Police officer says response to Durham explosion makes him 'proud to serve'

It’s been two days since Officer Harrison Booth responded to an unforgettable call. Booth, who is also an emergency medical technician, said his supervisor told him to help the injured.

“Grab your stuff and go,” Booth said he was told.

The first person that Booth helped was the contractor who he said was conscious but didn’t know what was going on.

“I linked up with one of the later units and we just went person to person, whoever we could find where they were patching them up,” he said. “I had an individual come to me and I was checking his pupils for a reaction to light and one of them was botched and I asked him, ‘Is this normal for you?’ and he said no.”

Booth said things were moving so fast that he quickly ran out of medical supplies.

“I ran up to an ambulance and I asked is there anything I can grab or use, so I loaded up again and went right back out,” he said.

Booth said the day has changed him and brought him closer to the people he serves in Durham.

“A lot of times when we’ve had a rough day, sarcastically, we will say ‘So happy to be here, so proud to serve,’ but on this day it held a different meaning. It was truly that I was happy to be here, I’m proud to serve,” he said.