(CNN) Can you blame him?
In a rare admission by a politician, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said he got “quite drunk” the night after suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured at the end of a dramatic, daylong manhunt.
Speaking to employees at a Cambridge marketing firm this week, the Democrat opened up about the aftermath of the terror attack, saying he was relieved not only that Tsarnaev was captured but because he could fully do away with the city’s lockdown.
“The reason why it worked out in the end is because we found him. If we didn’t find him then people would be bitching and moaning about how we kept them indoors all day,” Patrick said, according to the Boston Herald.
Residents in Boston and certain surrounding areas were ordered to “shelter in place” for 16 hours as authorities searched for Tsarnaev. Patrick said he began facing pressure–even from the White House–later in the day to remove the restrictions.
“‘What are you going to do about the city? You can’t keep it locked down indefinitely’,” President Barack Obama told Patrick on the phone, the governor said.
They decided to end the lockdown Friday evening after finishing the door-to-door search. That same night, Tsarnaev was found in a boat on someone’s property and taken into custody.
Patrick, who’s considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, said the next day he traveled to his rural home in the Berkshires and went for a quick swim, then headed to a local restaurant alone with a book. The owner asked him if wanted to be near people or away from them.
“As far away as I can,” he told her, recounting the story.
He said the waitress started bringing him celebratory drinks. “And by the end of the meal, I was actually quite drunk, by myself.”
The Boston Herald talked to the restaurant’s co-owner, Maggie Merelle, who told the paper that she didn’t sense the governor was intoxicated.
“He wasn’t tipsy. I never would have known,” Merelle said, adding that he had a “glass of chardonnay or two” with his meal.
Patrick also said he left without paying the bill, according to the Herald.
“I realized I had no money with me. So I called her over, and I said to Maggie: ‘I really appreciate it. I’m very relaxed.’ And I also have no money. Can I bring it down tomorrow or something?’ ”
Merelle told the Herald the governor later paid his tab.
