Watertown boat owner David Henneberry tells story of finding Boston Marathon suspect

[Triana]

VIDEO at link....and an important request from Henneberry regarding the internet campaign to help him replace his boat.

The Watertown man, who found Boston Marathon bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in a boat in his backyard ending a week of terror for the region, told NewsCenter 5's Ed Harding exclusively that his one hope is to bring closure to the families of those killed and those who were wounded.

"I'm just glad," Henneberry said as he struggled to control his emotions. "I hate to use clichés. If people who were killed can get some (comfort), then I am at peace with it. If I help these people that lost people, if I can help them in their mind, then everything is good with me here."

Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/Watertown-boat-owner-David-Henneberry-tells-story-of-finding-Boston-Marathon-suspect/-/11971628/19863572/-/mpx0qq/-/index.html#ixzz2RNvkfbes

Really sweet guy. On page 3 of this same article, Henneberry says in regards to the internet campaign to help him to replace his boat:

"It makes me feel wonderful that people that are thinking like that, but it is my boat. People lost lives and lost limbs. I'd rather that (the money) go to the One Fund Boston. To buy me a new boat is a wonderful thing, I don't want that really. I would wish that they donate it to the One Fund Boston. They lost limbs. I lost a boat," he said.

"Slip Away is slipping away. But I say it did its job. It held a bad guy and is going away like a Viking ship."

[mnhtnbb]

1. Wonder if his boat was insured? Wonder if the insurance company gives him grief about it?

[Triana]

4. Dunno. It wasn't mentioned. As conscienceless as insurance companies are though...

...they might. Who would be surprised?

[Renew Deal]

5. Hello, I'm calling to make a claim

Sure. What happened?

A terrorist was in my boat and the cops shot it up. Is that covered?





I think terrorist acts and "acts of war" are generally not covered, but I'm not sure.

[CTyankee]

2. He sounds like a wonderful guy. Kudos to him, a real mensch who wants to help others.

[Triana]

3. Related: 'One Fund' raises $20M+ for Marathon attack victims

Mr. Henneberry, the boat owner, has asked that instead of sending him donations to replace his boat, that people send money to One Fund Boston instead to help the bombing victims. "I've got a canoe in my garage", said Henneberry.

BOSTON —In the week since the Boston Marathon bombings, a central fund set up to help the victims has raised more than $20 million, according to Mayor Tom Menino.

Gov. Deval Patrick and Menino say the One Fund Boston was set up as a central place to gather donations for bombing victims.

"Over the last week, we triumphed over terrorism and showed the world the meaning of Boston Strong," Menino said.

Eligible claimants are encouraged to register with onefundboston.org or contact 1-855-617-FUND. Both the website registration form and phone number will open to the public at noon on April 24.

Organizers hope to have all the funds distributed to those in need by June 30.

The find was established by Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney who managed the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Feinberg has also administered compensation funds for victims of the 2010 BP Gulf Coast oil spill and mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Aurora, Colo. The Brockton, Mass., native is chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation board.

To send a check by mail: One Fund Boston, Inc.
800 Boylston Street #990009
Boston, MA 02199

Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/-One-Fund-raises-20M-for-Marathon-attack-victims/-/11971628/19781134/-/x9l4qpz/-/index.html#ixzz2RNzxo4B6

[Baitball Blogger]

6. "Slip Away is slipping away. But I say it did its job. It held a bad guy and is going away like a

Viking ship."

Brilliant man.

[cleduc]

7. "I've got a canoe in my garage", said Henneberry.

I loved that and that he got emotional about the victims.

To me, beyond the horrific loss of life and limbs, this terrorist attack really backfired in a major way.

What the world saw was:
- many Americans beyond first responders run towards the explosion to help
- marathon runners keep running to the hospital to give blood
- very brave cops face these guys outgunned at the outset in Watertown and a massive determination to bring them down and keep their people safe while the local residents fed them in the lockdown
- people who lost limbs declaring they're running in the marathon next year
- millions donating to One Fund .. and even towards replacing this guy's boat
- and this guy as another of many examples of American compassion & decency
- etc - you could create a long list beyond the above

The world saw a couple of heartless fanatics representing one extreme cause answered by an incredible culture of millions of 'strangers' rushing to pull out all the stops and care for each other.

Typical Americans have been doing this my whole life. When real trouble hits, the real character of Americans comes out and it's heart is so formidable. Once again, you should be so proud of yourselves.

All the best.

A Canadian

[Triana]

8. +10000

You've summed it up very well. The strength and decency of America triumphed over the extremist hate-riddled pissants. Such a fine example of how it's done.

[freshwest]

30. +1

[DirtyDawg]

9. Under the...

...circumstance, my reaction to the fuselage of gunfire in tis guy's backyard the other night seems more than a little trite...it was 'somebody's gonna need another boat.'

[Orrex]

19. "Fuselage" is an odd word choice there, but who the hull am I to judge?

[LondonReign2]

27. I think the word should be fusillade

n/t

Edit: derp, missed your pun

[Orrex]

28. I love pasta.

I swear, doc, it was one in a million.

[LittleGirl]

10. I don't donate often

but this time, I got out my card to help the Fund. Thanks for posting to make it easy for me to do so.

[Bragi]

11. Actually, he confirms that the lockdown failed

I note that he confirms that he stayed inside until the lockdown officially ended, and only then did he go out to investigate the boat.

Which means the suspect -- wounded and bleeding out in the boat -- would have been discovered earlier by this man had there not been the lockdown.

So it was an alert citizen who found the suspect. Shutting down the city and mounting (warrantless) house-by-house searches accomplished nothing.

[Orrex]

12. Nice job finding the dark cloud

Too many people are fixated on the silver lining.

Thanks for helping us maintain focus on the negative.

[Bragi]

15. The Boston lockdown was a civil rights catastrophe

I leave the sunny skies to you, if the police think it's okay for you to be out and about to enjoy it.

[Orrex]

17. You live in Boston, I gather?

The people in Boston with whom I've discussed this, as well as the guy in the neighboring cube--whose entire family still lives there--are satisfied with the way the matter was handled.

What do you know that they don't know?

[Bragi]

20. So?

I know quite well that in post-9/11 America, most people have decided to trade in civil rights for the promise of security. If anyone had doubts about this, then surely last weeks events clarify that, without question, security now trumps civil liberties. While the Bill of Rights is still supported by most people as an abstract ideal, it clearly no longer has any practical and legal meaning. From a civil liberties standpoint, it turns out the bad guys have already won. We're now just working out the details.

[Orrex]

21. I'll mention your concerns to them.

I'm sure that their reaction will be somewhere between "tell them to pound sand" and "what's with the paranoia?"

security now trumps civil liberties.

That's been the case for at least your entire lifetime, and probably much longer.

[Bragi]

23. You wrote:

&quot Security trumps rights has) been the case for at least your entire lifetime, and probably much longer"

I've been around a long time, and I would wager that if anytime prior to 9/11, you showed people video of heavily-armed cops dressed like military shutting down a major city, and doing house-to-house warrantless searches, that very few Americans would have agreed that that could ever happen in America. Now Americans cheer on the cops.

Nope, I know that things have changed mightily when it comes to civil liberties, all for the worse.

[Orrex]

25. Were you born before WWII?

Before the 1920s?

Security has always trumped civil rights in this fine nation of ours.

It's tempting to pretend that this is a recent development, and there's no doubt that the ante has been upped in recent years, but this is simply a difference in degree.


And my Boston native cube-neighbor thinks that you are, in his words, "a conspiracy nut."
So there.

[Zoeisright]

13. So you have a crystal ball, huh?

You know exactly what would have happened without people staying inside? His story "confims" nothing of the sort. That kid was hiding in an area OUTSIDE the "stay in place" request. It was NOT a lockdown.

God, the stupid is strong some days.

[Bragi]

14. Even the police called it a lockdown /nt

[cbdo2007]

16. Hmmm, they caught the bad guy before he could hurt anyone else....how did it fail??

Sounds like it worked exactly as intended.

[Bragi]

18. That doesn't square with the facts

The authorities cancelled the order to stay inside at a news conference at about 6:30pm, where they admitted the lockdown and house-to-house searches had failed to find the suspect.

Within minutes of the order being lifted, the boat owner went out to his yard, saw the suspect, and called it in to police.

So what happened, by the admission of the authorities, is that their unprecedented lockdown of a major American city, and the unprecedented (warrantless) house-by-house search by armed police dressed up like military, failed to locate the suspect.

That's what we know. We can only speculate on whether the suspect might have been located and apprehended earlier had the boat owner not been told to stay inside.

[cbdo2007]

22. Finding the suspect wasn't the only goal of the lockdown - what about public safety?

His brother was killed hours earlier with explosives strapped to his body after they killed a public safety officer and carjacked another individual....At this point it was assumed he had access to explosives and could have had them strapped to his body as well, along with the desire to kill more innocent people.

"We can only speculate on whether the suspect might have been located and apprehended earlier..." - magically, your speculation only backs up your viewpoint here. In reality though we "can only speculate" on whether the suspect would have gone to a school bus stop and blown up 10 kids or carjacked a van full of people carpooling to work.

No one else was injured and the suspect was captured. Lockdown worked perfectly.

[Bragi]

24. Yep, the lockdown worked perfectly

I'm sure it will be even easier next time: "Nothing to see here, just a city wide lockdown, stay inside until we can enter and search your home. Have a great day!"

[HockeyMom]

26. Trolling Freepers

They said that if Mass. had allowed it's citizens to be armed, that ARMED boat owner could have shot him right then and then, and JUSTICE SERVED.

Do we really want a country like that? A country of George Zimmerman vigilantes? Not me.

[Jim Lane]

29. Isn't it likely that his boat is worth MORE now?

In a previous thread, some DUers speculated that he could sell the shot-up boat to some rich collector for more than a new one would cost. That seems plausible to me. It's a one-of-a-kind item, and played a pivotal role in what will probably end up as the most publicized event of 2013.

I just went to a boat company's website -- I don't know how big Slip Away is but a 19' 5" powerboat goes for $31,290 counting dealer prep and freight to where I live. You'd think someone would pay $100k+ for this historic boat.

[freshwest]

31. I just knew he was going to say this:

"It makes me feel wonderful that people that are thinking like that, but it is my boat. People lost lives and lost limbs. I'd rather that (the money) go to the One Fund Boston. To buy me a new boat is a wonderful thing, I don't want that really. I would wish that they donate it to the One Fund Boston. They lost limbs. I lost a boat," he said.

What a great guy, wish I could get to meet him. But then, I know a lot of people like that.

[Triana]

32. Good people. Nice to know there are still some around! n/t