N.Y. Rep. Lazio Falls at Parade, Needs Stitches

Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) fell and cut his lip during a Memorial Day parade Monday, and it took eight stitches to close up the wound.

Lazio, who recently replaced New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as the GOP Senate candidate challenging Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, stopped along the parade route in this Long Island town to shake hands. He was sprinting back to rejoin the march--as he had done several times before--when he lost his footing and fell on his face.

He got up, brushed himself off and kept walking, but he appeared slightly dazed. The top of his lip on the right side of his mouth was cut and bleeding.

Someone ran ahead to a deli and got a cup of ice and some napkins, and he finished the march while dabbing at his lip, which swelled. Lazio later went to a hospital, where he received the stitches.

The treatment delayed his arrival at another parade in Queens, where he replaced his slippery-soled dress shoes with deck shoes.

And not taking any more chances with his footing, he stopped during the second parade to tie the laces.

Today, Lazio will attend the state Republican convention in Buffalo to speak to the party’s rank-and-file about his U.S. Senate candidacy, spokesman Bryan Flood said.

“There will not be a lot of heavy issues in the speech,” Flood said. “We have five months to talk about issues. It will be about who he is and where he comes from.”

New York Gov. George Pataki will nominate Lazio as the party’s candidate for Senate, and the delegates are expected to vote to back him.