Shot officer Dic Donohue promoted on same day Dzohkhar Tsarnaev gets death
For one, there was a new beginning.
For the other, it was the beginning of the end.
Richard “Dic’’ Donohue, the MBTA officer who was nearly killed during the Watertown shootout after the Boston Marathon bombings, was promoted to sergeant Friday.
Hours later, Boston Marathon bomber Dzohkhar Tsarnaev — who Donohue almost died trying to help capture — was sentenced to die.
“Just over two years after the events that impacted us as a community and a nation, we can finally close this chapter in our lives,’’ Donohue said in a statement after Tsarnaev’s sentencing. “The verdict, undoubtedly a difficult decision for the jury, gives me relief and closure as well as the ability to keep moving forward.’’
Donohue was hit by a stray bullet during the April 19, 2013 firefight in Watertown between police and Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The bullet hit him in the right groin, severing his femoral artery, and Donohue almost bled to death.
After almost two years of recovery, he was healthy enough to donate blood for the first time last month. His family attended his promotion ceremony Friday morning at transit police headquarters. His father pinned his sergeant’s pin on his chest.
Sitting in a federal courtroom Friday afternoon, Tsarnaev showed no visible reaction as his sentence was read aloud. Convicted last month of 17 capital charges, he was sentenced to death for six of them.
“Today is not a day for celebration. It is not a day for political or moral debate. It is a day for reflection and healing,’’ Carmen M. Ortiz, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said after the sentence was announced. “Our thoughts should now turn away from the Tsarnaev brothers for good.’’
Scenes from the Watertown shootout
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