NJ Sen. Frank Lautenberg, 86, falls at home, is taken to hospital

NJ Sen. Lautenberg, 86, falls, is hospitalized

CLIFFSIDE PARK, N.J. — An aide to U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey says the 86-year-old Democrat has fallen and has been taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

Spokesman Caley Gray tells The Record newspaper of Bergen County the senator was taken by ambulance Monday night from his Cliffside Park home.

Gray says he doesn’t know if the senator fell inside the apartment.

Lautenberg returned Friday from a trip to Haiti with a congressional delegation. He was scheduled to discuss the trip and the U.S. aid effort at a news conference on Tuesday.

Lautenberg was first elected to the Senate in 1982 and is the first New Jersey senator to be elected to five terms.