Matthew Patterson

Matthew Patterson testified for the prosecution on Day 29 about providing emergency care after the Marathon explosions. A Lynn firefighter and critical care paramedic, he described leaving Abe and Louie's and finding Jane Richard with an apparent above-knee amputation of her left leg. He assessed her airway, identified severe bleeding, applied a borrowed belt as a tourniquet, and helped carry her to ambulance personnel. He explained that he initially misheard her name as Shane.

Patterson also described returning to the Forum scene, where he saw crowds and people performing CPR. He believed nothing could be done for a severely injured boy. He recalled, with uncertainty, then applying a shoelace tourniquet to another man's left leg and estimated spending two or three minutes at the scene. His testimony concerned the explosions' immediate effects and emergency treatment, not identification of a perpetrator or planning of the attack.

The court admitted Government Exhibit 41, a video of his response, without objection and allowed it to be played. Exhibit 40, a photograph of Jane's care, was admitted subject to Judy Clarke's renewed objection. Before his testimony, the defense sought to separate responders' factual observations from personal-impact accounts. The judge permitted limited testimony about Patterson's military medical training but excluded the nature of his service and observations of IEDs. The defense asked Patterson no questions.