4.Loring Nudd — Direct
196 linesTHE COURT: Attorney Buckingham.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Your Honor, the Commonwealth would call Loring Nudd as its next witness, please.
MR. REDDINGTON: Same objection through the record.
THE COURT: All right.
THE COURT: One second. Stop right there. Raise your right hand for the clerk, please.
COURT CLERK: Good morning. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony and the evidence you shall give to the court and the jury in the matter now pending between the Commonwealth and the defendant at the bar shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
LORING NUDD: I do.
COURT CLERK: Thank you, sir. You may have a seat.
THE COURT: All right. Good morning, sir.
LORING NUDD: Good morning.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: May it inquire?
THE COURT: Yes, please, counsel.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Good morning.
LORING NUDD: Good morning.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Could you please tell the jurors your first and last name?
LORING NUDD: My first name is Loring, L-O-R-I-N-G. My last name is Nudd, N-U-D-D.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And do you have a nickname that you go by?
LORING NUDD: I do.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What's that?
LORING NUDD: Everybody knows me as Chuck.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Chuck. And do you work, sir?
LORING NUDD: I do.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What do you do for work?
LORING NUDD: So I'm a firefighter/EMT with the Duxbury Fire Department. I am... I was at that time. I am now retired.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. So when did you retire?
LORING NUDD: So I retired a year ago.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: A year ago?
LORING NUDD: Mm-hmm.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so how long had you been working with Duxbury Fire before your retirement?
LORING NUDD: A little over 30 years.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: 30? And can you explain what your role was as a Duxbury firefighter?
LORING NUDD: So if, I was an EMT, which 80% of our calls are probably that related. So I'd either... I would assist a paramedic, or I would drive the ambulance, or whatever was necessary at the time. And then we were also fire, you know, did fire suppression, and we were all trained in that and went to the academy and all that.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And can you tell us what the difference is between an EMT and a paramedic?
LORING NUDD: So a paramedic requires another year or two of training—
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Mm-hmm.
LORING NUDD: ...and they're able to prescribe meds. I mean, not prescribe meds, excuse me. Give meds—
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Mm-hmm.
LORING NUDD: ...that they have according to what they need to do. They can also read the monitor that helps, that shows rhythms in the heart and what have you.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Is it fair to say that as an EMT, you're basic, you're trained in basic life-saving techniques—
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: ...while a paramedic is advanced life-saving techniques?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so at Duxbury Fire Department, is it also fair to say that each and every firefighter has that dual role of either being an EMT, a paramedic, and a firefighter?
LORING NUDD: Yes. Some are, there might be one EMT, you know, just a basic, where most of them are the medics or the...but we're all, all firefighters too.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And in the town of Duxbury, does the town itself have its own ambulances?
LORING NUDD: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: In addition to the fire engines?
LORING NUDD: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And there's also ladder trucks, correct?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now when you were working as a Duxbury firefighter, what was the schedule? How did you work your shifts?
LORING NUDD: So we worked 24-hour shifts.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And then how many days on and how many days off?
LORING NUDD: So we'd have one day on, one day off, one day on, and five off.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And a 24-hour shift, when did it start and end?
LORING NUDD: It was 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 the next morning.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So if I direct your attention to January 24th of 2023, you were still working for the Duxbury Fire Department then, correct?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were you on a 24-hour shift that day?
LORING NUDD: I was.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: At some point during the day, were you given kind of what your assignment was for that shift?
LORING NUDD: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What was your assignment?
LORING NUDD: So that day, I mean, we all kind of float around a little bit, but we had a newer member that had made progress. He was an EMT, and then made it to paramedic. So I was kind of what they call the backup guy. So I would do whatever fill-in needed to be done, and I would assist with them if necessary.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so were you kind of assigned to the ambulance at the central station as that backup person?
LORING NUDD: I was.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And the person that you identified was kind of the newer employee, what was his name?
LORING NUDD: Paramedic Dougherty.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that would be Daniel Dougherty?
LORING NUDD: Daniel Dougherty, yeah.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And who was the other Duxbury firefighter that was assigned to the ambulance that shift?
LORING NUDD: It would've been Paramedic Kevin Heath.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So at approximately 6:00 or just after 6:00 PM, were you advised of a dispatch to a residence in the town of Duxbury?
LORING NUDD: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And where was that dispatch gonna take you?
LORING NUDD: So it was gonna take us to Summer Street.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so you and Firefighter Heath and Firefighter Dougherty, you all get in the ambulance?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And do you go to 47 Summer Street?
LORING NUDD: We do.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Who was, in the ambulance, who was assigned as kind of the driver and the tech?
LORING NUDD: So at that time, because we had heard, you know, what kind of call it— we had an idea what call we were going to. The two medics sat up front and were able to converse while I sat in the back and again was that backup guy, more or less.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And as far as the nature of the call that you believed you were coming into, is it fair to say that the initial call had to deal with a female that had gone out the window, possibly a suicide?
LORING NUDD: Yeah. As I remember, it was a second-floor fall.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: At the time that you were dispatched to that location, did you know that there was any pediatric patients or children involved?
LORING NUDD: No.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now approximately how long did it take to get from the station, central station, to 47 Summer Street, if you recall?
LORING NUDD: I'm gonna say four to five minutes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And when you arrived on scene, were there already other emergency personnel on scene?
LORING NUDD: There were.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were you the first ambulance on scene?
LORING NUDD: We were.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: How about fire trucks? Were there any other fire trucks from Duxbury?
LORING NUDD: The fire truck, you could hear it in the background, but it wasn't there yet.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So is it fair to say that there were some Duxbury police cruisers that had arrived just ahead of you?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Where did you go with the ambulance when you got to that address of 47 Summer Street?
LORING NUDD: So as we were pulling up, I could hear the two guys up front say, "The cruisers are in the way of the driveway." So I said, "Okay. You guys take the call," meaning get out of the car and get started, get out the truck and get started, "and I'll take care of the truck."
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so when you come to the address, are you able to at least pull into the driveway at some point?
LORING NUDD: Not at that point. 'Cause I was in the back, I switched to the driver's seat, and at that time I saw an officer coming, and he was getting ready to move the vehicle that was in our way so that I could back in.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so were you able to then back the vehicle, back the ambulance into the driveway?
LORING NUDD: I was.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were there other vehicles that were not emergency personnel vehicles in the driveway?
LORING NUDD: There might've been some of their vehicles, but... There might've been, but I don't really... I had enough room to put my vehicle there, and that's all that mattered.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. So when you backed the ambulance in, Firefighter Heath and Firefighter Dougherty, what did they do?
LORING NUDD: They had already jumped out. I... They had already jumped out, grabbed the gear, and taken off for the back of the house.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Once you got the ambulance secured in the driveway, what did you do?
LORING NUDD: So assuming that they were gonna need a stretcher, I started pulling a stretcher out of the back of the ambulance.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And again, you said you backed the ambulance in?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: As you were pulling the stretcher out of the back of the ambulance, did you observe somebody coming from the house?
LORING NUDD: Yes. One of the-
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What did you see?
LORING NUDD: One of the police officers was carrying a child.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so what did you do when you saw him carrying the child out of the house?
LORING NUDD: So at that point, the stretcher was almost out of the vehicle, and I said, "Over here." And he placed him on the stretcher.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were you able to make observations of the child as he's being placed on the stretcher?
LORING NUDD: I was.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What did he look like?
LORING NUDD: So his face was blue, he had marks around his neck, and his body was pale.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so once the officer... Or first off, was the officer somebody you knew from Duxbury?
LORING NUDD: Correct. It was Officer Homestead.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And once the child was placed on the stretcher, what did you do after you made that initial observations of him?
LORING NUDD: So we rolled it right inside so we could start doing CPR.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, as an EMT, what is the first thing you generally do when you're observing a patient or assessing a patient?
LORING NUDD: So you always look for response, and you go for airway.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And fair to say there's kind of what they call the ABCs?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Can you tell the jurors what that means?
LORING NUDD: So it's airway, breathing, circulation.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And in this circumstance, were you able to observe the child breathing on his own?
LORING NUDD: No.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: How about, were you able to secure an airway for him?
LORING NUDD: Not at that time. We were still doing this, the preliminary.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And how about circulation or pulse or cardiac activity? Were you able to determine any of that upon your initial assessment of him?
LORING NUDD: At that point, no.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, after he... You are in the back of the ambulance, do other EMTs or other paramedics come and assist you with this child?
LORING NUDD: Yes. So when the patient was getting rolled in, I also yelled out to my captain, hoping that he was gonna hear me, that I needed a medic in my truck, 'cause I needed him to know that there was somebody in my truck.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay.
LORING NUDD: And I'm assuming someone heard me, and they then directed a medic to my truck once one appeared.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so, the medic that came to the truck, was that Keith Nette?
LORING NUDD: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that was not the original person who went to the scene with you in the ambulance, was it?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And what happened when you had the child in the back of the ambulance? What did you guys do to try to tend to him?
LORING NUDD: So we started... We were doing CPR, and then there was a mo-... He wanted to check the monitor. So we got the monitor out.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And with the monitor, what was the monitor supposed to be looking for?
LORING NUDD: Heart rhythm.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And so do you have to kind of hook that up to the patient in order to assess whether there's any activity?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And those monitors that you have in your equipment, do they do anything more than just check for heart rate?
LORING NUDD: The paramedic can then look and see what kind of, not just a heart rate, but a rhythm. And then—
MS. BUCKINGHAM: If there is not a rhythm, does that machine help you to do anything to try to restart somebody's heart?
LORING NUDD: With a rhythm, with the rhythm that they gave us, they said, "You can... We can disconnect it," 'cause they were concerned they needed more. They needed the monitor downstairs, too, or elsewhere.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And is it fair to say that at that point you're assisting the paramedic with their assessment and running that equipment—
MR. REDDINGTON: Objection, Your Honor.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: ...and checking the monitor?
THE COURT: No, I'll allow it, but let's kind of move on.
LORING NUDD: I'm sorry.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: That's okay.
THE COURT: You can re-ask that.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Are you assisting the paramedic at that point to—
LORING NUDD: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: …treat the child in the ambulance? At some point, do you leave the ambulance?
LORING NUDD: I do.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And where do you go after you leave the ambulance?
LORING NUDD: I bring the monitor down to the basement.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Are the other paramedics and the other responders still working on the child?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
LORING NUDD: Because my cap— they said they needed equipment in the basement.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: …able to make observations of those children?
LORING NUDD: Not really. I mean, they were… They weren't crying.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. And fair to say they were being treated by others?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so once you dropped off that equipment, did you go back outside?
LORING NUDD: I did.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what ultimately was your role at the end of this call? What were you asked to do?
LORING NUDD: I was asked to drive.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. So, the ambulance that responded from Duxbury, that's ambulance number one?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Ambulance one. Do you drive that ambulance to a hospital?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Which hospital was that?
LORING NUDD: I forget if it was at Jordan or the BI now, but it's the Plymouth Hospital.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Here in Plymouth?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that was with Dawson and Clancy in the back, correct?
LORING NUDD: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: No further questions. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you. Attorney Reddington?
MR. REDDINGTON: No questions. Enjoy your retirement.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, sir.
LORING NUDD: Thank you.
THE COURT: Watch your step.
THE COURT: Attorney Buckingham?