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Returning As A Spectator: Mike Chase

BOSTON (CBS) -- Mike Chase, the soccer coach at Danvers High School, was about 20 feet away from the second explosion last year.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Drew Moholland reports

He described the scene to WBZ NewsRadio's Drew Moholland. "The sound is deafening. It's just this high pitched ring. It's silent. You can see people moving. It's almost like they're zombies. The white smoke and the fire was everywhere."

Chase and his family attribute their lack of injuries and relatively fortunate circumstances to a planter outside of Atlantic Fish Co. "The carnage was just on the other side of a planter that probably stands about three feet high. So I was standing next to a pretty solid structure, thankfully. Everyone on the other side of the planter was in pretty bad shape," said Chase.

After the explosion, he ran out onto Boylston to help. "For whatever reason, my eye was just drawn to the middle of Boylston. I could see a child lying on the ground," remembered Chase.

That child was Jane Richard. He and Matt Patterson, a Lynn firefighter, used a belt on her left leg to stop the bleeding.

"We scooped her up. We were able to run her down Boylston, the opposite direction of the finish line, where we could see emergency personnel coming and stopped an ambulance," said Chase.

Since the marathon, he has enjoyed seeing Jane's impressive recovery. "It's wonderful to see her making strides and progressing. It's very important to me."

Returning As A Spectator: Mike Chase

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