Sen. Lautenberg demonstrates his punching method
In an effort to quiet criticism about his vitality, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) spent part of his 85th birthday celebration last month pummeling a man who’s been paralyzed since childhood.
Lautenberg launched the beatdown after several of his friends made jokes about his age during roast-style speeches at the black-tie affair at The Manor in West Orange. When they finished, one of the octogenarian senator’s aides wheeled Donald Spellacker onto the dance floor.
Spellacker, 42, was confined to a wheelchair in 1971 after a school bus he was trying to flag down ran over him and his mother, who was killed.
The paralyzed Spellacker, who can move only his head, was able to duck and bob out of the way of the first couple of blows from Lautenberg, but the five-term senator soon connected with a left jab-right uppercut combination. Lautenberg then began to work the body and knocked away the chair’s mouthpiece control stick when Spellacker tried to use it to get away.
“This isn’t about proving what good shape I’m in,” Lautenberg said while pausing briefly during the 15-minute beating. “It’s about proving that no matter what your limitations are, whether they be age or not being able to use your arms and legs, you can still achieve things and stand up for yourself.”
After the beating, Spellacker had some slight reddening on his cheeks but said he felt fine and was actually refreshed by the senator’s attentions.
“I was kind of surprised when he first started punching because Lautenberg’s staff said I was attending a benefit for people who were paralyzed in accidents that killed their mothers,” Spellacker said. “But to be honest, I didn’t feel the body blows because I am paralyzed below the neck. And if my eyes were closed I would have guessed Dr. Ruth was hitting me the punches were so soft.”
Lautenberg, the second oldest member of the Senate, was able to continue enjoying his party after receiving some intravenous fluids and half a tank of oxygen.
