Lynn firefighter made 'tourniquets out of belts and shoe strings'

Lynn firefighter made 'tourniquets out of belts and shoe strings'
Originally Published on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
By Thor Jourgensen
The Daily Item

LYNN — The low-pitched boom silenced the crowd seated around Matt Patterson inside Abe and Louie's, and the explosion that followed drove the Lynn firefighter to his feet and toward the restaurant's front door.

Patterson pushed through other diners, shouting at them to move to the restaurant's kitchen, before running outside and clearing one, then a second barrier blocking off the Boston Marathon's finish line area along Boston's Boylston Street.

The 30-year-old Army veteran's training and firefighter paramedic skills kicked in as Patterson knelt next to a boy lying in the street. One of the blasts sheared off the boy's right leg and Patterson told a man who ran up to help him, "I need your belt."
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