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Officer Who Died A Year After The Boston Marathon Shootout Is Honored

The name of a police patrolman who was wounded by shrapnel during a confrontation with the Boston Marathon bombers and suffered a fatal brain aneurysm a year later has been added to a memorial for Massachusetts police officers.

Officer Dennis Simmonds (Boston Police)
Officer Dennis Simmonds (Boston Police)

Officer Dennis Simmonds suffered a head injury when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated an explosive device during a shootout in Watertown days after the 2013 marathon bombing.

In April 2014, Simmonds collapsed and died while working out at the Boston Police Academy gym. He was 28. A state medical panel says the aneurysm likely was related to the earlier injury.

Simmonds was among those honored Friday at a Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial ceremony.

Friday's ceremony honored all 357 law enforcement officials from Massachusetts who have died in the line of duty.

Nine, including Simmonds and Plymouth patrolman Gregory Maloney, were added to the list on Friday.

Boston Police Det. Cecil Jones said those honored will never be forgotten.

"We will honor these men and women who have given their lives in the service of their communities all across the Massachusetts," Jones said. "They have taken an oath to protect and to serve, and each one of them bravely did so."

Seven others added to the memorial served in the late 1800s through 1955, and are just now being recognized following a search of old records.

With reporting by The Associated Press and WBUR's Steve Brown

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