America wants to help David Henneberry get a new boat.
The Watertown, Mass., resident became a hero when he
discovered suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in his
backyard boat.
Henneberry quickly called the cops and in a final standoff,
his boat was riddled with bullet holes.
"That boat's his baby. He takes care of it like you
wouldn't believe. And they told him it's all shot up," Henneberry's friend
and neighbor George Pizzuto told ABC News. "He's going to be
heartbroken."
Today, people around the country want to make help mend that
broken heart.
Deborah Newberry, 62, of Orlando, Fla., has already put a
$25 check in the mail to Henneberry's home.
"Something told him to go and check things,"
Newberry told ABCNews.com. "I just want him to know that people care about
him because I know he's probably the guy that would say, 'Well, that's okay.'
But I just would like him to know that we're all thinking about him and
appreciate his spirit."
She believes Henneberry had to be "awfully, awfully
cool" to emerge from a daylong lockdown, notice something wrong with his
boat, find a bloody man in it and slip away to call police.
"Just listening to his coolness and how he handled the
situation, it was like okay, that is a man who needs to have his boat
restored," Newberry said.
When asked if she sent Henneberry any note with the check
Newberry said no, she simply wrote, "towards a new boat" on the
check.
"He don't know me from Joe Turkey," she said with
a laugh. "I want him to go back to his regular little things that he do
and don't have to worry about having a boat."
Florida lawyer John Phillips felt the same way.
"[The boat] is fairly insignificant in the grand scheme
of things, but that's what's significant to him," Phillips told
ABCNews.com of the bullet-riddled boat. "If that's what the guy's passion
is, I have no problem whatsoever chipping in and helping out."
Phillips, 38, is a personal injury attorney in Jacksonville,
Fla. He wants to send Henneberry $1,000 for a new boat since he predicts the
boat will be held as evidence for some time.
"He just had his boat shot up and had a terrorist live
in it for a day," Phillips said. "If the dude wants an upgraded boat,
let's get the guy a boat without terrorist blood in it."
Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau has been inundated with
messages of gratitude and praise as well as requests from people who want to
know how they can get a Watertown Police T-shirt.
"I'm getting emails and things from all over the
world," Deveau told ABC News. "I got an email this morning. Some
person in Detroit, Michigan who wants to replace the boat for the Watertown
resident that got shot up. I mean, it's just incredible."
People on Twitter are echoing the calls to help Henneberry,
hailing him a hero.
"Bravo, David Henneberry! You are a true American hero.
I say we all pitch in and buy you a new boat. #welldeserved," one person
tweeted.
Another wrote, "Some boat company needs to hook David
Henneberry up with a new boat. His has a few holes in it. Holey #boats don't
float."
Henneberry's boat is reportedly a 22-foot Seahawk cruiser
with a fiberglass hull, which retails for around $50,000.
He did not return ABC News' request for a comment.
"It took more than the police department to get it done
and that's the American spirit to me," Phillips said. "It's one
random guy and one random boat ironically in a town named Watertown that's
supposedly landlocked. Truth is stranger than fiction. You couldn't write this
stuff and be believable."
No comments:
Post a Comment