4.Jeffrey Bauman — Direct

JEFFREY BAUMAN: My name is Jeffrey Bauman, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y B-A-U-M-A-N.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I graduated high school and I went to Middlesex Community College for a brief stint, and then I started -- decided to work. And I worked for my uncle's paving company, Allied Paving out of Drum Hill. And that was tough. I did that for about two years, you know, waking up at 5 a.m. and working the hot asphalt. Very tough. So I went in one day and I told him I had an epiphany and I -- you know, I retired my paving career and I went back to school and tried to grind away at that. And, you know, money was tight so I needed, you know, another job so I looked online, what's a good job that's out there without a college degree, and Costco Wholesale popped up. And, you know, I filled out an online app and got hired. And it was a great, great company when I worked there. I never worked retail. It was tough at first but then I got the hang of it. And I was great with people.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Almost about two and a half years.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: At that point I was in the service deli in the back. And I moved back there and I was getting great hours. And, you know, it was a little bit easier on you. It's an easier department to work in.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yes.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: On April 13th -- I mean, 15th, 2013.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: When I wear -- when I wear pants, it kind of trips me up because I have two mechanical knees but they're not motorized so they rely all on swing and pretty much momentum. So if I wear pants, it kind of gets in the way and, you know, I don't -- it's -- I'm not used to them yet, so.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. Yup.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I was watching my girlfriend -- my girlfriend run the race. It was my first marathon I've ever been to.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah, Erin Hurley.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah, she's my wife now. She said "yes."

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I dropped -- I woke up early with her. I remember we were sleeping -- mand she couldn't get much sleep. She was very nervous. So we woke up very early, like I did today. And we drove -- I drove her down to -- right on Huntington, right in front of the Colonnade. And she took a bus with her team that she was running. She worked at Brigham and Women's Hospital at the time, and she had a team. Team Stork. And I dropped her off with them and they took a bus out to Hopkinton, I believe.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I went back to our apartment I went back to sleep.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I don't know. Maybe nine? Nine o'clock? And I was with her best friend and -- both of her roommates, Remy Lawler and Michelle Mahoney. And, you know, it was awesome. We were very excited for her. And we turned on the TV to watch the start of -- I think the first heat was starting. And so we started to make a sign. You know, we wanted to make a sign for her, so we made a sign at the apartment. Then shortly after that we watched the race start, and then we headed to Newton. I think it was like Mile 17 where the firehouse is. It turns on to Route 16, I believe. And it was --

JEFFREY BAUMAN: We got there and -- first we stopped some kids on the street to take a picture. We got a nice picture. We made our way to the race. And, you know, that was my first time experiencing the marathon. I was watching all the runners. And it was an awesome time. They had music going, like blaring out of the firehouse. And we were watching all the runners and we were trying to, you know, figure out where Erin was. We had her tracked on GPS. And I think there's only five checkpoints. So we saw that she made it past the checkpoint so we knew she was close. And, you know, we were just watching all the runners. And, you know, right before we were about to leave and head to the finish line, because we thought we missed her -- you know, we saw her ran past and we screamed and, you know, she saw us and she turned around and she gave us a hug. And, you know, that was it, really. "We'll see you at the finish line." And we jumped in a cab and headed down, you know, as close as we could towards the finish line.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Right off of Storrow. Not that close. We still had to walk a good, you know, quarter to half mile to get down to the actual finish line.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Remy Lawler and Michelle Mahoney.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. We -- you know, when you get closer and closer to it, the crowd, you know, is so thick and there's just so many people. And, yeah, so eventually we made it to the finish line. And it was, you know, like five times as crazy as it was in Newton. And, you know, the guy's on the PA and he's calling people out and, you know, you see all these runners that you saw -- that I saw in Newton. I saw the guy in the hamburger suit. And I was, like, "Ahh, she's close. She's close." And so we were there, we made our way a little bit past -- before the finish line, before the race ended, and we were in a crowd just watching the runners.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: For a while. I'd say 25 to 30 minutes. Maybe a little longer.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: And it was a beautiful day and -- watching all these runners. We were -- she was supposed to finish around the four-hour mark. And, you know, we waited a little bit. You know, five minutes went past after it. And I had some concerns about her. I was, like, you know, "Where is she? She should be finishing now."

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah, I was. I was going to. You know, I said, "She'd better finish," you know, "under four hours."

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. Well, we were in the crowd and, you know, this guy -- you know, he's about my age -- he came up and he was trying to make his way through the crowd. And, you know, it was a dense crowd and, you know, he kind of nudged me and I looked back at him. And that's when I looked at him and he just looked very suspicious. You know, he didn't look like anybody that was there. He was alone; he wasn't, you know, watching the race, he wasn't -- you know, it didn't look like he was having fun like everybody else. Everybody else there was clapping, watching the race, you know, talking to each other. And, you know, I looked at him and he kind of stared down at me and, you know, I just thought it was odd. And, you know, I didn't really pay any more attention to him. Michelle kind of -- the girl I was with, kind of, like, "Oh, you're going to miss her finish," and, you know, we were kind of just focusing on Erin at that point. And, you know, I looked back and, you know, I saw a bag there unattended. And, you know, I thought that was very weird. I looked around for him and I was, like, you know -- I did notice that he did have -- he was carrying a bag but, you know, I didn't see him around. I saw the bag there and --

JEFFREY BAUMAN: If I had to -- it looked like just a regular school backpack. It was black and, you know, like an Eastpack [sic] or a JanSport, you know, a regular backpack.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Well, I -- you know, I just thought it was weird. You know, when you're at the airport -- that kind of went through my head. You know, when you see any unattended luggage, you notify authorities. And I just thought it was weird. So it was kind of playing off in my head. But, you know, it's like you're at the marathon, you know, he probably just forgot it or something. You know, you never think of anything. You're in Boston, you know, stuff like this doesn't happen. So I turned away and I was talking to Michelle and I was, like, "Maybe we should get out of here. I think she already finished," because it was like, you know, getting to that five to ten minutes after the four-hour mark, and so I wanted to go see if she finished. And Michelle was, like, you know, like, "Five more minutes." And, you know, two seconds later I saw a flash, heard, like, three pops and I was on the ground. And, you know, at first I opened my eyes and I could see the sky, and I was like, "Wow." I was, like, "That was a big firework." That's what I thought. Because the first smell that hit me was, you know, it smelled like the Fourth of July, the fireworks. And, you know, I lifted my head and, you know, that's when I first saw the chaos around me, you know, the smoke and, you know, all the stuff going on and people screaming. And, you know, my ears were ringing and everything was muffled. And the first person I saw was Michelle, and I looked at her and she was looking at me and I looked down and I saw her leg and I was, like, "Oh, her leg's bad." You know, I saw the bone in her leg and I was, like, "That's a really bad injury." And that's what I was thinking. And, you know, she was staring at me and then I looked down and I saw my legs, and it was just, you know, pure carnage. You know, I could see my bones and my flesh sticking out. And, you know, I kind of just went into tunnel vision and everything around me was there but I wasn't paying attention to anything else but, you know, my legs at that point. And, you know, so many thoughts went through my head. You know, I was sitting there and I was like, you know, "This is really messed up. This is messed up. This is messed up." That's all I was saying in my head. And, you know, I kind of tried to get myself, you know, out of it a little bit and I kind of laid down. And I think someone put a jacket over me at that point. And, you know, I laid there for a while and I was thinking, you know, "This is how it's going to end." You know, "This is it." Do you know what I mean? And then I was thinking, it was, like, "I had a great life. I had a great life." I saw the world, and, you know, I played sports growing up, I had great friends and I experienced a lot in my 26, 27 years on this planet. And I kind of made peace with myself at that point. And, you know, then something clicked. You know, I did hear the second explosion and, you know, I was thinking, you know, "This is messed up." I was, like, "We're under attack." That's what I was thinking on the ground. And I was, like, "They're never going to get to me. My injuries are bad." You know, people around me are in worse shape than I was. And alls I could think of at that point was, you know, I got to call my mom. So I searched for my cell phone and, you know, I couldn't find it, which is probably a good thing. If I called her, she probably would never forgive me.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. Well, after the second explosion I was laying there. You know, I wasn't -- the change in my mental state wasn't going anywhere. I was still there on the ground, still laying there. Then I was kind of like, you know, "I'm not going to just lay here." You know, "I've got to try something." So, you know, I threw the jacket off me, I sat up and I kind of had this second wind. And I was looking around and I seen other people help, and people were trying to help me. And I hear one guy yelling, you know, "Grab belts, grab shoelaces, tear shirts, anything you can get for tourniquets." And I was, like, "Oh, that's a good idea." And I was, like, you know, I don't have a belt on. I'd look and -- you know, at that point I was moving around and they were like, you know, "Sit down." You know, people were in my face. And then I see a guy in a cowboy hat and he comes up to me and he's yelling at me. He's like, "Stick with it." And, you know, he's yelling at other people around me. And, you know, I was just focusing on him and, you know, he was keeping me calm and keeping me there. You know, I had help at that point and I was like, you know, "All right. Now what?" And --

JEFFREY BAUMAN: You know, yeah, I believe so. I mean, you know, I did look at my wounds at that point and, you know, my right leg was pretty devastated and I wasn't losing much blood out of my right leg at that point. There could have been -- there was just a lot of stuff going on. I couldn't really differentiate what was on my leg at that point. But I did look at my left leg, and that's where I noticed most of my blood coming out. And I noticed I still had my knee intact but my fibula -- and I think it was my fibula, I'd say. It was exposed. I didn't have any leg beyond that point. And I noticed there was like a little stream of blood shooting out from underneath my leg, so at that point I just grabbed my left leg and squeezed it and I didn't let go until I was, you know, going into the ambulance.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: It just looked really devastated. I didn't -- you know, I didn't have my knee, I don't think, and, you know, there wasn't any blood shooting out of it. I didn't notice any blood. It looked pretty charred up. Yeah, but that was about it. I didn't really focus on that. Once I didn't see blood and -- on that side, I focused where I did see blood shooting out of my leg and I tried to stop it. And I just, you know, put my hand underneath and didn't let go.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: They asked me in the hospital and I said -- you know, I thought it was like 20 minutes. It seemed like a lifetime to me laying there. And, you know, I guess it was only a couple -- like probably about five minutes I was there.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: You know, right after I did start squeezing my left leg the guy in the cowboy hat, you know, he was, like, "This kid's got to go right now." And a wheelchair pulled up. And I didn't get a good look at the girl pushing the chair, but the guy in the cowboy hat, Carlos, grabbed me with one hand, picks me up and threw me in the chair. And, you know, I was off underneath -- you know, onto the street, underneath the finish line. And I remember everything from that point, and looking at everybody. And I saw a guy taking pictures and I was like, "Oh, that's kind of messed up." And, you know, we peeled into the medical tent, and I didn't see the ambulance until I got to the very end, and then I saw the ambulance. And I was kind of really revived -- like my spirits were really lifted when I saw the ambulance. And I was talking to them, telling them my name, and Carlos was talking to them and...

JEFFREY BAUMAN: As soon as I saw them, they kind of told -- they said I had to let go. And, you know, at that point they were working on me. They were doing stuff. And then they put me on a board, I think, and then they put me up into the ambulance.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: To Boston Medical Center.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: When I got there I was -- you know, it was like I was in a TV show, like ER. You know, you get wheeled in and you're looking at everybody around you and they're all screaming stuff, they're all talking to me. One person was talking to me asking, you know, some contact info. I gave them my aunt's info. I gave them her cell number. I was, you know, telling them my name, telling them my mom's name, telling them different people that they can contact. And then I started to, like, try to tell them how to do their job. You know, I was, like, "I got to get put under. This is, like, kind of too much for me." And I kind of knew once I was at the hospital I was probably going to make it. And, you know, I was just really happy I was there.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Because what I -- you know, what I saw, what I was -- from that previous ten minutes, what I went through, I mean, that was insane. It was, you know, too much for me to handle. And, you know, I saw -- still wonder to this day how I stayed conscious through that whole thing and I had no idea. It was just a lot for one person to see, I think.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: No. You know, I had burns, I had wounds in my back, I had arm wounds, missing my legs. And, no, I didn't feel any pain. It felt, like, pressure, you know, someone squeezing my legs.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. You know, I don't recall. I recall going into one surgery, but I believe I had a total of three surgeries and I don't recall the first two.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. It was my best friend, John Sullivan. And he woke me up on Tuesday.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I was just very happy to see him. You know, I do joke around. I say, you know, "I knew I wasn't in heaven because Sully was standing in front of me."

JEFFREY BAUMAN: But, you know, he's a great person.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. Well, I knew my legs were gone. I knew they were gone instantly, you know. And -- yeah, so he was trying to explain it to me. And I had breathing tubes in and, you know, he was shaking. He was, like, "You don't have your legs." And, you know, I couldn't communicate with him so he grabbed me -- he actually grabbed me a pen and pad and I wrote down -- the first thing I did write down was "Lieutenant Dan," because I was joking -- messing with him.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: It's in Forrest Gump. I think it's Gary Sinise that plays Lieutenant Dan. And he lost both his legs in Vietnam, I think above the knee. But, you know, I was just messing with him. And, you know, after that I recalled, you know, the suspicious kid that I saw. And, you know, I didn't know for certain that, you know -- that he was -- you know, what happened, but I knew it was -- at that point I knew pretty -- you know, I was pretty clear in my mind what happened. And, you know, I only had one goal in my mind at that point, is to tell whoever I could what I knew. And I wrote down to Sul, I said, "I saw -- I know what happened. I saw the guy. I saw the kid and I know what happened." And, you know, he was shaking. And he went out and, you know, there was -- you know, my whole family was outside the room and they came in. And, you know, shortly after that I have FBI standing in front of me and state police and --

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Oh, yeah. You know, at first I couldn't talk. I had the breathing tubes in. So, you know, at first I did write down what I saw. I wrote down exactly what I saw. And, you know, after that they were like, you know, "You have to get his breathing tubes out," and, you know, they kind of worked on that and they got my breathing tube out. And, you know, from there on I just worked with whoever came in. I can't really remember who came in, but I remember helping them and describing what I saw and trying to do the best I can -- I could.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. When I first wrote it down, I wrote, you know, he was about six-three to six-two, athletic build. He was pretty built. He was taller than me. I was only about five-eleven, so I remember looking up at him. He had a hat, a black hat, pulled down, you know, real low. He had, it looked like aviator shades. And he was white and he had a five o'clock shadow. He had a big jacket on that was black, with a hoodie, and he was carrying a black bag. And I wrote all that down. And, you know, that was my description of him.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. Yeah, I did a sketch.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I believe that was Wednesday, though, a couple of days after.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. You know, I think it was at nighttime. And he came in and I just -- we worked for about an hour on it. And it was difficult. You know, some things, you know, weren't clear to me facial-wise, but I did the best I could with, you know, the hat and the glasses and the five o'clock shadow, what I remember of his face.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yes.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: No, I didn't. I didn't see him.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah, I think -- the first time I did see him was, you know, on the news on, like, the Friday or Thursday or...

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Oh, I kind of -- I was with my brother. I was like, "That's the kid I saw. That's him." And he's like -- my brother said, "I haven't seen you light up like that in a while." And, you know, it was kind of, you know, a relief to know that, you know, I got to help out and, you know, do my part.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: No.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I lost both my legs above the knee, I have -- you know, I have a scar -- I have a hole in my arm. Something went in and came out, and it was in my tricep. It took a good chunk of it out. And, you know, I have some burns and some scars on my back.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Every day you'd -- with burns you have to change the dressing. So, you know, at first it was very painful. You know, the nurses come in -- the nurses are great but, you know, they have to come in and take the bandage off and, you know, pretty much take a layer of skin with it, dead skin. And it's very painful. And, you know, every day for three weeks.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: A little -- like I think a day over a month. I think I got out like May 16th.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I just -- like two months ago I just recently stopped doing outpatient at Spaulding. I was walking pretty well on my own, so I decided to take a break from going down to rehab.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Well, I have a scar from -- it was one of my surgeries. It was, again, when I was unconscious. There was like an exploratory surgery. They just wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong in my abdomen because it looked kind of funky, I guess.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I don't -- I have no idea. Probably.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah. I have like a constant ringing in my ears and I can't hear that well at all.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Oh, yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yup.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: (Witness complies.)

JEFFREY BAUMAN: What?

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Oh, sorry.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: White and red flag? Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: I suppose that's the guy you're going to ask me about. Sorry I jumped the gun.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yup.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: What was that? Sorry.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: It looks like a hat and sunglasses.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yeah.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: (Witness complies.)

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Yup.

JEFFREY BAUMAN: Thank you.