PAX Centurion - May / June 2015

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • June/July 2015 • Page 31 See Things on page 44 Things we have to deal with By Daniel O’Donnell, D-4 In the March/April edition of the Pax Centurion there was an edit- ing mistake. Officer Dan O’Donnell from District 4 wrote an article that was great. When we went to print only one page of Dan’s article made it. We have reprinted Dan’s article in its entirety. My apologies to Dan and I hope you enjoy his article as much as I did. – Chris Broderick W hile driving on Route 138 on the way home from my son Brendan’s baseball practice, our conversation centered around why we have failed to go skiing at the Blue Hills, when we live just about three miles away. I was about to tell him that I would get back to him after I figured out why growing up in South Boston, I had never set foot in the J.F.K Library when I probably looked at that distinct black and white building almost everyday. What saved my futile expla- nation, was a phone call from my brother, Tommy. “Are you working? Have your radio on?” were the first words out of his mouth. “No,” I said. “What’s going on?” “Shooting in Rox- bury. One of our guys shot,” he answered.“Wait?What? How bad?” I asked. Brendan, who is becoming a professional eaves- dropper in his early days, heard my brother’s words and saw the immediate change in my expression. “I’ll call you when I get home. I’m with Brendan.” “What happened?” “Oh, nothing pal. Everything is fine.” “I heard something about a shooting. Is he ok? It was a police officer?” Turn- ing towards Brendan I saw the Blue Hills Ski Resort behind him, and immediately wished we were still talking about skiing, or our lack thereof. John Moynihan’s name didn’t ring a bell. I didn’t know him. What does that matter anyway? He’s one of us. It’s a sick feeling you have whenever something like this happens. I texted a few guys I know in theYVSF about his condition. Words like “great dude, and ‘tough kid” came back. Not surprising words, but in the days that fol- lowed, I learned that truer words were never spoken. The comments section of every online news outlet have kept me away from reading police stories recently (for obvious reasons), so I grabbed a paper edition of the Herald a couple of days after the shooting. An article about John caught my attention. His high school hockey coach had recalled a story of when John was a se- nior at Norwood High School. His hockey coach offered this fringe player the following: “Play on the varsity team, but you will not get much playing time.” His former coach gushed when recalling the next day John returned to him and said “Coach, I will do what ever it takes to help the team.” By the end of the year, John was a vital player on the team. This story brought to mind the saying, “Measure someone’s talent, yes, but you can’t measure heart.” “John is what a lot of us should aspire to be”; words spoken by John’s former hockey coach. I relayed the hockey story to my son Brendan the next morning on the way to school. I reminded him that he was the Officer that was hurt a few days before. “That,” I said to him, “is the type of person you should want to be.” If he listens to 5% of what I say to him some- times, I hope that stays in the 5%. Before joining the BPD, John served two tours in Iraq with the Army Rangers. That should make all of us that stomped over the detail board to “check hours” after getting whacked for a four hour gang car in Brighton feel just grand. Almost immediately, word started coming out that there was a “very good” video of the shooting. Commissioner Evans wanted to get ahead of any type of backlash that could possibly gain steam. A forced move he had to do because, as recent history shows, rowdy crowds and slogans can play the media like a marionette. The Com- missioner emphatically put the facts out to the media before the wolves could attack, and attack they did as a couple ofYouTube videos showed up on the internet shortly after John was rushed to the hospital. It was hard to watch the videos and not be infuriated. Our guy was shot in the face and we have to deal with this?? The crowd with cell-phones in hand threw the verbal kitchen sink at the guys on scene who were trying to establish a crime scene. It didn’t work. What the wolves wanted was one of us to lash out, go hands on.. Then they would pounce…And so would the media. The wolves, for a matter of this record, are the liberal mainstream media, and protest groups who have one, and only one, goal; Pushing their agenda to further whatever cause they choose that week, with or without the truth or facts. From burning down Ferguson to shutting down Rte. 93. When they smell blood, there is no stopping them. Even Chief Gross, who is highly respected by the patrol force and equally respected in the community, unwittingly let his guard down and held a mini-press conference with the crowd. Of course they would have a different view when the facts were played out. Right?? Wrong. He was met with an unbelievable response when he told them a cop was shot in the face before fire was returned. He held cool as the wolves turned on him, spewing racial epithets and insults. It’s funny, no mainstream media outlet picked up the videos. Why? Simple. It doesn’t play to the masses. No catchy slo- gans here. “Why was the body left in the street??” they screamed. Because it was pretty clear he was deceased and so he became part of the crime scene. No disrespect going on there. I would like to remind said masses that a couple of years ago Officers and EMT’s were forced to leave an innocent eight year old boy and a young college student on Boylston St. after they became part of the big- gest crime scene Boston has ever seen. They were also deceased and could not be moved. The video of the shooting, for people who have seen it, (maybe by the time you are reading this it would have been viewed a million times) described it as pretty horrific. Clear cut. After theYVSF ap- proached the car in a “respectful?” way… I still don’t understand that term, John was shot point blank in the face without warning. Fire was returned and the suspect was killed. A woman driving near the scene, The wolves, for a matter of this record, are the liberal mainstreammedia, and protest groups who have one and only goal; Pushing their agenda to further whatever cause they choose that week, with or without the truth or facts. From burning down Ferguson to shutting down Rte. 93. When they smell blood, there is no stopping them.