Boston Police Officer Dennis “DJ” Simmonds is remembered as the fifth victim of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. He died a year after the attack from injuries sustained during the Watertown shootout with the Tsarnaev brothers.
In 2024, the Boston Police Department marked the 10th anniversary of his line-of-duty death, honoring Simmonds’ bravery and legacy.
Here are five things to know about Dennis Simmonds and his sacrifice following the Boston Marathon bombing.
1. Simmonds was wounded during the gun battle with the Boston bombers.
On April 19, 2013, four days after the bombing that killed three people and injured several hundred others, police were involved in a shootout with the perpetrators, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Simmonds was one of the first officers on the scene of the shootout and suffered a serious head injury in a blast caused by homemade bombs the Tsarnaev brothers threw at police during the encounter.
Tamerlan was killed during the incident and Dzhokhar was taken into custody.
2. Simmonds died a year later as a result of his injuries.
On April 10, 2014, Simmonds died of a brain aneurysm while working out at the Boston Police Academy gym, according to ODMP. He was 28 and had served with the Boston Police Department for six years.
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association president Patrick M. Rose, who transported injured Simmonds away from the scene of the Tsarnaev gun battle, would later describe the officer as “a bright, shining star” who “made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Simmonds’ family suspected the death was related to the injuries he sustained in the shootout, and sought official acknowledgement of the officer’s sacrifice as the fifth victim of the terror attack.
3. In 2015, Simmonds’ family was granted a line-of-duty death benefit.
The Massachusetts State Retirement Board recognized Simmonds’ death as a LODD in May 2015 and awarded his family a one-time death benefit.
“We absolutely want him to be recognized as the fifth victim,” the officer’s younger sister, Nicole, told WBZ. “It’s now etched in stone, it’s etched in paper that my brother is recognized as a hero among those key decision makers.”
A state medical panel’s report, which stated Simmonds’ injuries “were persistent after the episode involving the gun battle between police and Boston Marathon bombers,” factored into the decision.
Nick Favorito, executive director of the Massachusetts State Retirement Board, told the Boston Globe at the time that “the board wanted to acknowledge the officer’s efforts on that night of April 19, 2013.”
Simmonds’ name was also added to a memorial that honors Massachusetts cops who have died in the line of duty.
4. Simmonds was honored with Boston’s highest award and a national Top Cop recognition
In the days following the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Officer Simmonds and his fellow officers were awarded the Schroeder Brothers Memorial Medal, the Boston Police Department’s highest honor for courage and bravery.
A month after his death, Simmonds was posthumously honored in Washington, D.C., where President Barack Obama presented him and 24 other Massachusetts officers with the nation’s Top Cop Award. During the ceremony, President Obama stated: “In Boston, our entire country saw once again the strong stuff that these men and women in uniform are made of … we don’t always get that opportunity to stand and applaud the men and women who keep us safe. But they’re out there, hundreds of thousands of you, patrolling our streets every single day. And we know that when we need you most, you’ll be ready to dash into danger, to protect our lives even if it means putting your lives on the line.”
5. ‘Patriots Day’ does not include Simmonds.
The 2016 film “Patriots Day,” which stars Mark Wahlberg and dramatizes the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath, faced sharp criticism for omitting Officer Dennis Simmonds. Despite his pivotal role in the Watertown shootout and his death a year later from injuries sustained during the confrontation, Simmonds was neither portrayed in the film nor included in its closing “memorial loop,” which honors four others killed in connection with the attack — including his fellow officer, MIT Police Officer Sean Collier.
The decision not to recognize Simmonds drew backlash from multiple organizations and community leaders. The Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (MAMLEO) and the Boston branch of the NAACP condemned the exclusion, stating in a joint release that the film’s failure to acknowledge Simmonds and other officers of color “paints a distorted image of what truly happened that day” and “taints our history.”
Additional criticism came from then-Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross, who noted the filmmakers had failed to consult with any Black officers or commanders involved in the response. “They forgot Dennis and anyone of color,” he said.
Former State Police Sgt. Timothy Whelan, who served as a state representative at the time of Simmonds’ death, also urged the filmmakers to address the oversight. He emphasized that the injuries Simmonds sustained during the Watertown shootout directly led to his death in the line of duty.
When pressed about why Simmonds was omitted from the movie, filmmakers cited the movie’s runtime. A production spokesperson for “Patriots Day” said in a 2016 statement that the film’s two-hour runtime “limits the number of individual stories you are able to tell.”
This article, originally published on Jan. 17, 2017, has been updated by Police1 Staff to reflect relevant information about Officer Simmonds.
