The Irish American cop who was seriously injured during a shootout with the Boston bombing suspects is determined to return to work.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Officer Richard Donahue still has a bullet lodged in his leg from the shoot out.
Donahue has been recovering alongside victims injured in the April 15 Boston Marathon Bombings since he was transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston on Friday.
The shooting caused nerve damage that makes it painful to walk and difficult to sleep; the father of one is using crutches to get around.
Sitting alongside his wife Kim Donahue, the transit officer said he's getting stronger and healthier every day.
AP reports that Donahue is building his strength to walk on his own again, as well as doing speech therapy. He said he is looking forward to being discharged so he can spend some quality time with his 7-month-old son, who's gotten four new teeth since he’s been in hospital.
Donahue doesn’t recall anything from the shootout that left him seriously wounded. His last memory of April 17 was his roll call at the start of his shift.
“As of right now, it's all been a blackout,” he said.
Donahue suffered a severed femoral artery when a bullet pierced his groin during a gun battle with the Tsarnaev brothers. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died on the same street where Donahue was wounded.
"One of them, I guess, has already been brought to justice," Donahue said of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
It is still not clear exactly how Donahue was wounded. He says if his injury turns out to be from a fellow officer's bullet, he was just glad police "got the job done".
“If it was friendly fire, it was friendly fire,' he said. “We got the job done and the other suspect got captured shortly thereafter, so I'm just happy with that.”
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