Story Created:
Jul 18, 2010 at 11:17 PM PST
Story Updated:
Jul 18, 2010 at 11:21 PM PST
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had surgery Sunday on a broken elbow he suffered in a bicycle accident in the Mid-City area.
“Mayor is doing well,'' Villaraigosa spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said in a e-mail to City News Service. “We will be sending out the public schedule shortly and it will have an update on the mayor's condition.''
In a later e-mail, Hamilton said the mayor had surgery on his arm.
“Mayor Villaraigosa underwent surgery to repair a broken right elbow today at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center,'' she said in the statement.
“The surgery was a success and the mayor is expected to make a full recovery. Mayor Villaraigosa will make every effort to resume a full schedule this week.''
A sergeant from the Los Angeles Police Department's West Traffic Division confirmed that Villaraigosa injured his arm in a bicycle accident.
“The call was reported to us at 6:17 p.m. Saturday,'' said LAPD Sgt. Murrel Pettway of West Traffic. “The accident occurred at 8627 Venice Blvd.''
Pettway said the mayor was transported to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after the accident by his security detail for treatment of a broken bone.
“But I have no information regarding the taxicab,'' said Pettway. “As far as I know there was no driver cited or arrested because of the crash.''
The Los Angeles Times reported the cab driver left the scene and was unidentified.
Pettway said that detectives from West Traffic will take up the investigation into the crash on Monday.
The Times reported last night that the mayor was in a bicycle lane on Venice Boulevard in the Mid-City area when a taxicab cut him off, and that he hit his brakes and fell off the bicycle.
Villaraigosa was released by 10 p.m. and “resting comfortably'' at the mayor's official residence, Getty House, the newspaper reported.
Villaraigosa posted a brief Twitter message on the mayor's website this afternoon that read, “Last night I broke my elbow in a bicycling accident. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. It means a lot to me.''
Before the accident, the mayor was scheduled to appear Monday at an event to launch his girlfriend's new charity to help animals and at-risk youth. The Lu Parker Project, created by the KTLA news reporter who has been seeing the mayor since early last year, is organizing young volunteers to repaint the lobby of the city's South Los Angeles Animal Shelter.
Sunday night, The Times reported the mayor intends to be at the event.
The mayor's accident was renewing the debate over bicycle safety in the city.
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