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Near fatal gunshot wound left him paralyzed
Retired New York Trooper and
AAST Member Paul Richter
On a late-night traffic check in Lake Placid on September 30, 1973, Paul Richter was working as a New York State Police trooper when he was shot in the neck with a .22 caliber gun, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He has since dedicated much of his life to spinal cord injury research.
On July 14, 1998, a bill was passed realizing Richter’s initiative to establish a spinal cord injury research fund. With its broad grassroots support, including a mass letter-writing campaign across the state, the bill passed unanimously in a brief nine months, becoming the first law of its kind in the nation. Major legislation typically takes three to seven years to get passed.
Richter literally could have walked away from the devastation of spinal cord injury after regaining the ability to walk with a cane. Today he considers himself lucky.
“I couldn’t turn my back on other spinal cord injury victims who aren’t as fortunate as me to regain the ability to move and walk,” Richter said. “My injury and extensive rehabilitation were for a reason. I can now use my situation to help find a cure.”
Christopher Reeve, pictured right with Richter, was among those who helped get the bill passed to establish a spinal cord injury research fund in New York state.
Friends and connections, eventually including the late actor Christopher Reeve, paralyzed after a fall from a horse, provided invaluable support along the way to help get the bill passed, a law which provides $8.5 million a year for spinal cord injury research. The bill passed with no lobbyists – grassroots only.
In 1977 Richter joined the Spinal Cord Society, whose function is to raise money to fund research to find a cure for spinal cord injury paralysis. He is now the New York state chapter coordinator of the group, which is comprised solely of volunteers. Richter also serves on the New York State Spinal Cord Injury Research board and takes a keen interest in the research efforts that his bill makes possible, including the Center of Research Excellence.
Research money is dispensed in the form of grants, requests which are submitted to a review board administered through the New York State Department of Health.
Richter has been recognized many times for his work. On June 3 the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and Burke Medical Research Institute in White Plains, N.Y., honored Richter as the research recipient of the Burke Award, the highest honor bestowed by Burke and its board of directors. The award is presented to an individual or group for strength in overcoming a disability for the development of science and research regarding disability, and for contributions made to the development of rehabilitation.
Thank you, Paul Richter, for your clear vision and unyielding efforts in this life-changing field.
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