Officer Wed in Hospital : Broken Bones Fail to Break Nuptials Date

Scott Aldrich and Sheryl Bushman exchanged wedding vows as scheduled on Sunday--but in a small room at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys instead of at a country club in Agoura Hills, as they originally had planned.

The bride, 26, dressed in a traditional white satin gown, walked into the room to the tune of “The Wedding March” played on a music box.

The groom was wheeled in on a gurney.

Aldrich, 33, a Los Angeles police officer, suffered a broken leg and fractured skull Jan. 11 when he tried to break up a fight between two men on Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys.

Tuxedo T-Shirt

He wore a traditional hospital gown and a white T-shirt sporting the outline of a tuxedo drawn in black crayon. Instead of the 250 guests originally invited to the wedding, about 25 family members and close friends witnessed the ceremony.

The groom, a patrolman in the Van Nuys division for five years, said he could not remember much about what happened when he was injured, except that he put a bear hug on one of the men in the fight.

Detective Stan Ludwig said witnesses told police that Setrak Kirakosin, 24, of Van Nuys, broke Aldrich’s grip and twisted the officer’s leg, shattering it below the knee. Kirakosin then kicked Aldrich in the head several times after the officer fell to the ground, Ludwig said.

Kirakosin, who fled and was arrested the next day, was arraigned Tuesday in Van Nuys Municipal Court on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon--his shoe--and one count of battery on a police officer. A preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 30, Ludwig said.

Dinner Plans Ruined

Aldrich said he was on his way to his fiance’s Tarzana home to take her and her best friend, Teri Sobota, to dinner when he was injured. Sobota had flown to Los Angeles from her home in Denver that day to help Bushman with wedding plans.

“Instead,” Sobota said, “we wound up at the hospital.”

Bushman, 26, an office manager for an exporting firm, said the first thing Aldrich said to her when she saw him in the emergency room was that the wedding was going to take place as scheduled.

“He kept insisting the wedding was going to be today, even after he had surgery on Sunday,” said Eileen Bushman of Canoga Park, the bride’s mother. “We still thought he’d be out of the hospital by now. It wasn’t until Tuesday that we found out he wouldn’t be home in time for the wedding. Actually, we were all more concerned about Scott than anything else.”

Shower Held Too

Muriel Aldrich of Sepulveda said her son also insisted that a shower for the bride take place as planned last Sunday.

The couple’s parents--Eileen and Max Bushman and Muriel and Edward Aldrich--and other relatives and friends hurriedly called the 250 guests who had been invited to the original wedding and made other arrangements for the hospital ceremony.

The hospital provided a decorated room. The groom’s sister, Mary Ann Aldrich, arranged the flowers. Other family members provided cake and champagne. The groom’s aunt, Deanna Morris of Canoga Park, held the music box and played it on cue.

Rabbi Richard Schachet of Woodland Hills performed the ceremony under a traditional Jewish wedding canopy rented by the bride’s family.

“Not all rabbis will perform this kind of ceremony,” Schachet said. “It’s a mixed marriage.”

Although the bride is Jewish, Schachet said, the groom is not.

A First for Rabbi

“I’ve done weddings in many places but never in a hospital room,” the rabbi said during the ceremony, which was kept as traditional as possible.

While the groom lay on a stretcher and recited his vows in English, the bride, tears streaming down her face, said hers in both Hebrew and English. The groom smashed the traditional wedding glass under the canopy--with a hand-held shoe instead of his foot.

Hospital officials also let Aldrich, who is forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages because of his medication, have one sip of wine, part of the Jewish wedding ritual.

“Who are we to stand in the way of tradition?,” said nurse Betty Speilberg.

‘Hard-Working Guy’

One of Aldrich’s supervisors, Sgt. Frank Guarino, was there. He described the groom as “a hard-working guy you can count on.”

The new Mrs. Aldrich said the couple had planned to spend their wedding night at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel in Universal City and drive up the coast in a motor home for a few days’ honeymoon.

“Instead, we’ll be here at Valley Presbyterian Hospital,” she said. “I’m just happy Scott’s going to be OK.” Nurses said Aldrich is expected to recover.

The bride said the couple will hold a reception this summer for the guests who originally were invited to the wedding.

“Maybe, we’ll have time for our honeymoon then, too,” she said.