Playground hails hero of marathon
Sgt. Simmonds honored
A brand-new Dorchester playground will honor the fallen officer who died a year after sustaining injuries while exchanging fire with the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013.
The playground and basketball courts of Harambee Park on Blue
Hill Avenue will formally be named after Sgt. Dennis “D.J.” Simmonds today, who was among the first responders to the scene in Watertown, where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev threw explosives and engaged in a shootout with police.
Simmonds became the fifth victim of the tragic marathon, as he died one year later from a brain aneurysm that was later proven to be linked to head injuries suffered when an explosive detonated near him during the exchange on April 19, 2013.
“D.J. was an important part of the Boston Police community and an important part of the Boston community,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh told the Herald. “I think that we spend a lot of time focusing on heroes that are athletes or movie stars or fictional characters. He’s a real life hero . ... The incident of his death was very sad. So, we looked at ‘How do we make sure that we’re remembering people like D.J.?’ Someday, somebody will ask, ‘Who is D.J. Simmonds?’ And they’ll get the answer that he’s a true hero.”
Simmonds’ family has long had to fight for D.J.’s heroics to be recognized.
It wasn’t until 2015, when the State Retirement Board ended speculation surrounding Simmonds’ death, that it approved a $150,000 benefit for the family after medical evidence proved his death was a product of injuries he sustained during the shootout.
Then in 2016, the family learned that Simmonds was completely left out of Mark Wahlberg’s film “Patriots Day.”
“I view that as insulting, that they wouldn’t even reach out and ask us about his story,” Simmonds’ mother, Roxanne, told the Herald at the time. “I know there were other victims. But even if they had said he passed away a year later, or just said his name in remembrance. He did love the city and would have done anything to help it.”
Walsh said the playground is a way for Simmonds’ family to keep the fallen officer’s memory alive.
“I know his family pretty well now. His mom and dad and sister are great people,” Walsh said. “The day D.J. passed, he froze for them right there. And there were so many more opportunities that they didn’t experience with him. I think having something in Boston named after him is so important and it’s going to be a nice thing for the family.”
Walsh added: “Anybody who puts their life on the line for anybody is a hero. The stories we heard of his life and what he did as a police officer on the side with kids, that’s important.”
The new playground at Harambee Park features an accessible hillside with a bridge and a tower play structure, embankment slides and climbing nets. It will also include two basketball courts with LED lighting, a workout area, benches, tables, fencing, pedestrian lighting on pathways, and improved entrances from Blue Hill and Talbot avenues.