John MacLellan, ’88, the Watertown police sergeant who was involved in the April 18, 2013 shootout with the alleged Boston Marathon bombers, has been awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor.
The medal was presented at a White House Ceremony by Vice President Joseph Biden and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Sgt. MacLellan was among five Watertown police officers and two firefighters honored for their part in taking down the suspected Boston Bombers.
“Today we honor you, not just your bravery, but your professionalism, your commitment, your example,” Vice President Biden said during the ceremony.
Since the inception in 2003 of the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor, only 95 have been awarded. The accompanying citation indicates the award is given by the president of the United States "for extraordinary valor above and beyond the call of duty."
Sgt. MacLellan called the award a “great honor.”
The events involving Sgt. MacLellan took place three nights after the bombs exploded at the finish line of the marathon. When the suspects were on the run in the hours after their pictures were first circulated by police, they ended up in Watertown. Sgt. MacLellan was the patrol supervisor that night, and was second on the scene after the Tsarnaev brothers were stopped on Laurel Street. Shortly after he arrived at what was then just a traffic stop to assist Patrolman Joe Reynolds, bullets and homemade bombs started flying.
After a tenacious gunfight lasting several minutes, the older suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ran up Laurel Street heading directly for Sgt. MacLellan. The veteran officer was out of bullets and believed he was finished. Tsarnaev was, fortunately, also out of bullets. MacLellan and another officer subdued the suspect and were trying to handcuff him as he lay struggling beneath them on the ground. Now the concern was of some sort of explosives the suspect might attempt to detonate.
Sgt. MacLellan’s life again flashed before his eyes. “I thought to myself, ‘I just hope it’s quick,’” he said. “I really thought this was it. There’s no way this kid came up here unarmed.”
The rest is, as they say, history. Tamerlan Tsarnaev had no explosives on him. He was arrested but died on Laurel Street, due to wounds suffered in the gunfight and after being run over by his younger brother. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev got away that night, but was apprehended about 20 hours later during the Watertown lockdown. His trial is underway in Boston. (Story by John Winters. Some material from WBUR was used in this report)
