Posted on 04/12/2014 5:20:53 AM PDT by raccoonradio
A hero of the marathon bombings has lost his life.
Boston police officer Dennis O. Simmonds turned 28 on April 1 and had just bought his first home, a ranch house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Hyde Park.
Simmonds was among the officers who chased the Tsarnaev brothers from Cambridge to Watertown, a chase that ended with the infamous shootout. As police and the Tsarnaevs exchanged fire, one brother threw an explosive so close to Simmonds he was thrown off his feet, hit his head and suffered serious injuries — including blurred vision and hearing loss. He was out of work through July, police Commissioner William Evans told me yesterday.
“It’s really tough. He was a great cop,” said Evans, remembering how he sat beside Simmonds’ heartbroken mother in his hospital room Thursday where she held both Evans’ hand and the hand of her only son.
The fitness buff and Crossfit enthusiast appeared fully recovered and had been assigned to undercover work at this year’s marathon. Then on Thursday, inexplicably, he collapsed while training at the Boston Police Academy in Hyde Park, not far from his home.
Doctors ruled out a heart attack, said Evans. But the cause of death — and whether it was related to his head injuries — remains unknown.
“He was basically living his dream,” Simmonds’ father, also named Dennis, told me last night. “Since he was 5 years old he’d always say, ‘Look at the policeman,’ like they were out of this world. He’d run around the house as a little kid saying, ‘You’re under arrest,’ to his sister Nicole,” who’s three years his junior. They had to go to separate high schools, Dennis to Randolph High, Nicole to Cardinal Spellman, “because there were no boys coming over to see her due to Dennis. He was very protective.”
The father recalled his son as a serious-minded, “take-the-bull-by-the-horns kind of guy. A go-getter. I think that’s why these guys at the police department grabbed him for this Youth Violence Task Force to go out and knock on doors and talk to kids and try to head them in the right direction and get guns off the streets.”
Yesterday at 2 p.m. a sea of police officers in formation saluted as the hearse carrying Simmonds’ body left Boston Medical Center and drove to the Expressway to a funeral home in Randolph. His loss seems particularly cruel this week. It’s just days before the marathon — when an entire city is focused on healing and drawing some good from last year’s tragedy. It’s also just days after we mourned the deaths of two Boston firefighters, Lt. Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy.
Simmonds, still so young, had been a rising star. Last month he learned he’d been chosen to receive a Top Cop award in May in Washington, D.C. In December he received the Schroeder Brothers Memorial Medal, the department’s highest honor. He’d also received multiple commendations for his work with gangs.
“It’s heartbreaking for all of us, a 28-year-old at the prime of life,” said Evans. “It reminds you of how precious life is.”
Howie Carr list ping
Very sad. The Tsarnaevs’ Muslim terrorist attack did a huge amount of damage to a lot of decent lives.
...except when it comes to unborn children. Hypocrites.
Good man.
Good post.
All the Muslim attacks all over the globe do a great amount of damage to people. It is a religion of hate, violence and death. They serve Satan. I can think of no other reason they would do what they do.
That's the only thing I've learned about muslims during my entire time on the planet so far, that muslims do a huge amount of damage to a lot of decent lives.
Rushdie got the title to his book right.
Satanic Verses is the only thing that explains it and what they do.
I agree. Islam always seems particularly enraged by people just going about living their lives, having their families, having fun, etc. Even in Islam’s home countries, the Muslims are always blowing up people in markets, at harmless public events, etc.
It’s a demonic cult that hates goodness and even hates human life.
“Suffered a brain aneurysm while on duty”
>>Officer Dennis O. Simmonds was on duty at around 1.30pm and in the police academy gym on his lunch break when he suffered a medical emergency, police spokesman Sgt. Michael McCarthy said.
The officer was rushed from the Boston police academy in Hyde Park to hospital where he died after attempts to resuscitate him.Officer Simmonds, known to his loved ones as ‘DJ,’ received the Schroeder Brothers Memorial Medal, the highest award given by the department for bravery, just a few weeks ago. He was set to travel to Washington DC next month to be honored by President Barack Obama.
And I remember that...soetoro woman visiting one of the terror suspects in the hospital in Boston, dissing other wounded there.
Damned slugs.
/ S
Reminds you there are good and decent cops out there...
RIP...
As planned.
Stretch em all, close Gitmo, the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.
RIP Mr. Simmonds. May God comfort your family. I hope that terrorist POS gets hit with another murder charge over this.
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