Anti-Nuke Protester Rushes Reagan -- Was Assailant A Democrat? Ex- President Asks

LAS VEGAS - Former President Reagan wisecracked, "Was that a Democrat by chance?" after an anti-nuclear activist rushed the stage during a speech yesterday and smashed a crystal statue. Reagan was hit by flying glass but was not hurt.

Secret Service agents tackled the man before he could take the microphone.

A witness said the man had walked up stairs on the side of the stage. A Secret Service spokesman said he didn't know how the man got past agents.

Reagan, 81, was hustled off the stage but returned to finish his luncheon address to the National Association of Broadcasters, which had given him its Distinguished Service Award and presented him with the 2-foot crystal statue.

"I think I'm going to go out and see who that guy is," Reagan said as he ended his 20-minute address at the Las Vegas Hilton. He pushed up his sleeves as if preparing to fight, grinned and waved as he left the stage.

Richard Paul Springer, 41, of Arcata, Calif., was arrested on a preliminary charge of assault on a federal officer, a Secret Service agent, said Secret Service spokesman Carl Meyer in Washington.

Springer had darted to the podium, raised the 30-pound statue over his head and smashed it.

"Excuse me, President Reagan," he said as he tried to grab the microphone.

Reagan appeared shocked as three Secret Service agents knocked the man into the podium and wrestled him to the floor. As he was led away, Springer shouted, "There's a nuclear test Tuesday . . . tomorrow afternoon!"

Reagan was jostled and was hit in the head by a chunk of glass, spokeswoman Cathy Goldberg said.

Springer founded the 100th Monkey anti-nuclear group, said Lisa Law, a group organizer. She said he was leading a week-long series of events protesting nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles from Las Vegas.

The Secret Service's Meyer said Springer wore a badge required of those attending the convention, but he didn't know whether Springer had a legitimate reason to be there or how he got onto the stage.

"I was in utter shock," said radio and TV talk show host Larry King, who was inducted into the association's Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Leroy Schneck, a broadcaster from Warren, Pa., said he was near the stage when he saw the man walk up stairs to the right of the stage, walk toward the back and suddenly turn and run to the podium.

Reagan survived an assassination attempt in 1981, when he was shot outside a hotel in Washington. Doctors removed a bullet one inch from his heart.