Two Malden Police Officers recognized for lifesaving effort

  Malden Police Officers Kenneth Watkins and Richard Doherty were honored on October 21 by the Massachusetts Police Association for saving a woman’s life after she was critically injured by a gun last March. On the evening of March 4, Watkins and Doherty responded to the Walgreens parking lot on Centre Street and found an unidentified woman who had been shot in the leg and was bleeding profusely. Watkins and Doherty each carried two tourniquets and were able to reduce the bleeding until paramedics arrived.

  As members of the department’s Special Operations Unit, the officers train for 16 hours each month on a variety of skills, including tourniquet use. However, Watkins and Doherty said this was the first time they ever used a tourniquet in a real-world situation. The department has been providing officers with tourniquet training since the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.