(2004-05-24) — U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy today suffered minor injuries when the mountain bike he was riding slid on a patch of loose stones and crashed near the end of a 17-mile ride at the Kennedy family compound in Massachusetts.

When told about the incident, Senate colleague John Forbes Kerry expressed his “grief and prayers for Teddy, his bicycle and the entire eastern seaboard.”

“His injuries remind me of my own three Purple Hearts earned during the Vietnam war,” Mr. Kerry added.