Local 103
Sends Injured Police Officer
to Super Bowl

From left, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino looks on as Joseph Sheehan and Michael Monahan present tickets to the Super Bowl to injured Boston Police Officer Scott O’Brien.

A Boston police officer shot in the line of duty had a Super Bowl Sunday he will not soon forget, thanks to the generosity of IBEW Local 103.

With his jaw wired shut and a cast on his arm from gunshot wounds he suffered in the line of duty, Officer Scott W. O’Brien accepted a tour package including airfare, hotel accommodations and game tickets in a presentation by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Local 103 Business Manager Michael Monahan said the local was given the trip for two as a thank you from an FM radio station with which Local 103 advertises.

Once the local decided to donate the weekend trip to a local citizen, the decision was easy: O’Brien, who was shot twice while trying to arrest an armed man hiding in an attic on January 16. O’Brien told Local 103 Business Agent Joe Sheehan that he thought he was just “going to Quincy just to hand out a summons” when his life was turned around by the gunshots. The suspect was arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Monahan said although O’Brien still has months of recovery ahead of him, he was happy about the gift. “He doesn’t have a bad day anymore after surviving a couple of bullets in the head,” Monahan said.

O’Brien, 27, is a former Marine who is still in the reserves and a resident of Dorchester, where Local 103 is headquartered. He told Sheehan he felt he was “simply doing my job” when he was shot.

IBEWCURRENTS

March 2004 IBEW Journal