- ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Reuters) - Former U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno, who is running for governor of Florida, collapsed on stage
late on Wednesday during a speech at a university in upstate New York and
was rushed to a local hospital.
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- Just seconds before collapsing, Reno
told the audience at the University of Rochester, "If you will excuse
me, I'm going to have to sit down." The 63-year-old, who suffers from
Parkinson's disease, then fell hard to the floor behind the podium, appearing
to hit her head on the way down.
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- Several people from the audience quickly
came to her assistance. She was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
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- "I can only say right now that she's
being evaluated," said Karin Gaffney, spokeswoman for the hospital.
Gaffney said she could not provide information about Reno's condition or
the nature of the medical problem, but said Reno was being evaluated in
the hospital's emergency room.
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- Reno's hand was trembling during her
speech. Such trembling often stems from Parkinson's disease, a progressive
disorder of the central nervous system affecting more than 1 million people
in the United States.
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- Reno was conscious and stable when she
was transported to the hospital, according to Darrell Drigg, a spokesman
for the Rural/Metro Medical Services, an ambulance company.
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- A spokeswoman for Reno in Miami had no
immediate comment on the incident.
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- Reno served as attorney general -- the
top law enforcement official in the United States -- during the two terms
of President Bill Clinton. Last year, she announced her candidacy for the
Democratic nomination for Florida's governorship.
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- The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
reported on its Web site that Reno had been standing at the podium for
about 45 minutes before collapsing. Before the speech, Reno attended a
fund-raising event and a news conference.
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- Reno became the first woman attorney
general of the United States in 1993.
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- Just 38 days into her tenure, Reno approved
the FBI raid that led to the deaths of some 80 people at the Branch Davidian
compound in Waco, Texas. She gave the go-ahead to the April 19, 1993, raid
that ended a 51-day standoff after negotiations with cult leader David
Koresh reached an impasse amid reports of child abuse inside the compound.
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- The tear-gas assault on the heavily armed
cultists ended in an inferno that engulfed the Texas compound, killing
Koresh and about 80 followers, including many children.
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- "I made the decision. I'm accountable.
The buck stops with me," Reno said after the compound had burned to
the ground.
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- Reno took a personal interest in the
battle over Elian Gonzalez, the young Cuban shipwreck survivor whose mother
drowned fleeing Cuba.
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- She met with the boy and his Miami relatives
who battled to keep him from returning to Communist Cuba, and with his
father and grandmothers, who wanted to raise the boy in his homeland.
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- She never wavered in her position that
Elian belonged with his Cuban father. When the Miami relatives defied a
U.S. government order to hand over Elian, Reno authorized federal agents
to grab the boy in an armed raid in April 2000 and reunite him with his
father, who later took him back to Cuba.
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- In between Waco and Elian, Reno was involved
in such controversies as Kenneth Starr's independent counsel investigation
of Clinton, allegations of Chinese spying and campaign financing questions
surrounding the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election effort.
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- She was diagnosed in 1995 with Parkinson's
disease. Reno said she would release her medical records during her candidacy
but was confident the disease would not impair her ability to govern the
nation's fourth-largest state.
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