Watertown Rescue’s Actions Helped Save MBTA Officer’s Life

It was a typical 24-hour shift for Watertown Fire Department firefighters James Caruso and Patrick Menton assigned to the department’s rescue ambulance; a few medical calls and some training. Pretty routine for a Thursday, Caruso would remember.  But the everyday would within minutes transform into a maelstrom of bullets and bombs. The pair rushed to aid a police officer in a Watertown neighborhood, hit in an exchange of gunfire with the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.  “From calm to chaos,” said Menton. Caruso and Menton have worked together periodically on the ambulance which is Caruso’s assignment. In fact, Menton was only scheduled to accompany Caruso after James’ usual partner’s wife gave birth earlier on April 18. The pair — Westford-native Caruso and Menton who was born, raised and is living in Watertown — who joined the department together eight years ago, would be on the 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift.   Earlier in the week, the department put a second rescue unit on duty as a result of the Boston Marathon bombing, but were not called into the city. It was a fairly quiet night Thursday, until just after midnight when the chatter on the radio began picking up from dispatchers and police and fire: an officer shot and killed at MIT, a car jacking, a wild car chase heading west along Memorial Drive in the direction of Watertown. Then around 12:45 a.m., dispatch relayed to Watertown Rescue the call of “officer down” during a running gun battle along Laural Street with two heavily-armed suspects. Despite the hundreds of round-fired and pipe bombs lying on the street, the pair raced to the heart of the battle. “We didn’t know there had been shots fired, but all we knew was there was an officer needing help so we went in. That was it,” said Caruso. “It was a bit nerve-wracking but instincts just kicked in so you are not really thinking about it,” said Menton.  When Caruso and Menton arrived, they were waved to the intersection of Laural and Dexter where they found a group of officers in a driveway. Jumping out of the truck’s cab, the EMTs saw officers working on Richard Donohue Jr., a MBTA officer who was part of the police chase into Watertown. The 33-year-old Donohue was hit by a round that severed three of four major leg arteries, producing a steady steam of blood draining into the street.  As Caruso and Menton got out, the officers carried the limp unconscious officer to the back of the vehicle. They soon realized that Donohue had effectively lost his entire blood supply from the wound.  “You can’t even describe […]

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