Energetic ASU mascot sends councilman to hospital

David Schapira was just three weeks away from fully recovering from back surgery when Sparky jumped on him.

Now, Schapira struggles to even walk. His left leg is rendered nearly useless because the pain in his back is so excruciating.

“I was really kind of shocked,” he says. “I was just posing for a picture. I didn’t hear him coming and all of a sudden I felt something on my back.”

Schapira, who was just about recovered from a back surgery, still needed a little help getting around with a cane but certainly nothing like he does now. “Even that night I was on a cane. I used the cane to get down to the field and when we got down to the field I handed it to my wife because I didn’t want it in the picture,” said Schapira.

Schapira says when the mascot jumped on top of him, he tore a muscle in his lower left back in the exact location of where he had surgery for a herniated disk nearly three months ago.

His wife kept taking pictures as Schapira used a nearby fence for support. Another picture captured both Schapira and Sparky when they realized what happened. “That was when it hit me what had happened, and Sparky was right in my face like shaking his head because he just felt so bad.”

Schapira says he’s not upset, just a bit frustrated. “I was off the pain meds most days and so I was getting to a point where I felt kind of normal again and then Friday happened,” he said.

The councilman is back on medical leave from work and in physical therapy. He now anticipates another six weeks of recovery.

School officials released a statement that read in part, “ASU sincerely apologizes for Sparky’s excessive exuberance. We have offered our fullest assistance and cooperation in getting his bills paid, and we wish him a speedy recovery.”