News

As 'Patriots Day' opens, officer's family seeks credit

BOSTON — As the new Mark Wahlberg film "Patriots Day" about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing premieres Wednesday in Boston, there's a push for recognition for a police officer who died a year after being wounded in a confrontation with the suspects.

Officer Dennis "D.J." Simmonds was injured when a pipe bomb exploded near him during the confrontation between police and Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev days after the bombing. He suffered a fatal brain aneurysm a year later.

Simmonds' family believes he should be recognized as the fifth fatality. Three people were killed when the Tsarnaevs detonated pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line. The brothers later fatally shot MIT Officer Sean Collier.

The bombing victims and Collier are mentioned by name in "Patriots Day," but Simmonds is not.