American seriously hurt during event at running of the bulls in Spain

PAMPLONA, Spain — An American man was partially paralyzed after a mock bullfight following the first running of the bulls Friday in Pamplona, and seven other people were hospitalized after being gored or trampled.

Danger is what draws throngs of revelers to Spain's most famous festival each year, and danger is what they got in the narrow streets of this ancient Spanish city.

Ray Ducharme, 31, a bond trader for Bank of America in Charlotte, N.C., was injured in what is known as a vaquilla, in which hundreds of people chase five cows around the bull ring, pulling their ears and tails. The cows are smaller than fighting bulls and have less imposing horns, but they still weigh hundreds of pounds.

Ducharme, a Bath, N.Y., native, was thrown by a young cow in the event and underwent a 90-minute operation at the Hospital de Navarra to reattach two vertebrae.

"He is paralyzed in the legs, and will have partial use of his arms," said Pello Pellejero, a Pamplona government spokesman. "He is in very serious condition."

Ducharme's father, Ray, described him as an avid soccer player and said his family hoped his high level of physical fitness would help his recovery.

Seven injuries were reported during the run itself, at least two of them serious: New Zealander David MacDowell, 25, was gored in the thigh, and Pamplona native Ramon Garayoa, 46, fell and was trampled.

The bull run began at 8 a.m. when six bulls, each weighing about 1,500 pounds, stormed out of a corral where they spent the night, then zoomed up packed Cuesta Santo Domingo street at the start of the 900-yard run. They were accompanied by six castrated steers who know the route and are meant to keep the bulls in a single pack.

Thousands of runners, most wearing traditional white shirts and pants and sporting red handkerchiefs, dashed in front of them. Each pack ran with the bulls for a short distance before darting out of harm's way.

The rampage ends in minutes. The bulls rush into the Plaza de Toros, where some of Spain's better-known bullfighters awaited them in the afternoon. The festival lasts nine days.