Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveKatie McLaughlin - Direct
264 linesMR. BRENNAN: Thank you, your honor. [unintelligible]
JUDGE CANNONE: Good morning. Whenever you're ready, Mr. Brennan.
MR. BRENNAN: Thank you, ma'am. Could you please introduce yourself to the jury?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: My name is Katie McLaughlin. I'm 29 years old. I work for the town of Canton as a firefighter paramedic.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you study to become a paramedic firefighter?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Why did you become interested in becoming a paramedic firefighter? Objection.
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I enjoy helping people. I have some family members who work in the health care field and I just always thought it was interesting and I wanted to do something meaningful with my life.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you have to have any special training or education to become a firefighter and paramedic?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, you do — about two years of schooling. It's divided between a didactic portion and then a clinical portion in the hospital and ambulance. So it takes about two years to finish.
MR. BRENNAN: You completed that?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you become a firefighter at the same time you became a paramedic or were those separate educations?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: They're separate. I became a paramedic first before I became a firefighter.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you work as a paramedic before you became a firefighter?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Actively in the field? Yes, for a few years.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you remember about when you first started working as a paramedic?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: 2016 or '17.
MR. BRENNAN: And when did you first become a firefighter?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: 2017.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you remember when you first began working for the Canton Fire Department?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I believe it was May of 2017.
MR. BRENNAN: Are you still employed by the Canton Fire Department?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: In your paramedic training, did you learn how to provide care for people who are in need?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Had you before 2022 responded to different events — or people's homes or public locations — to help people?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Could you estimate how many different calls you had been on as a paramedic or firefighter leading into the beginning of 2022?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Probably hundreds.
MR. BRENNAN: I want to ask you some background as a paramedic firefighter — your role as you see it. As a paramedic firefighter, are you part of law enforcement?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you investigate crimes?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you write police reports?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: When you're going to a scene and using your skills to help somebody, are you interested in whether or not somebody was involved or responsible for an event?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: What is your focus when you go to a scene to help somebody? What's your priority?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: To help the patient, to save someone's life.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you have a chance — or do you try — to assess the patient, speak to them if they can speak to you?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: If we can. Yep.
MR. BRENNAN: Is there times when the person can't speak?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: If a person can't speak to you, is there a role that you take to try to get information to help assist the person?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. You would go to a bystander and try to gather as much information as you can to help the patient. More information for us helps the patient in their treatment and it helps the hospital when we bring them there.
MR. BRENNAN: Is that responsibility or role separate and apart from police work?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: As a paramedic firefighter, are you involved in police work at all?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Sometimes when you go to a scene and try to help somebody, you write a report — in some, if you're in a particular role, you would write the report. Um, so when you arrive at a scene, is it fair to say you don't always write a report?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Correct.
MR. BRENNAN: And the purpose of the report — is that to try to help law enforcement?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: What's the purpose of when someone would write a report as a firefighter paramedic?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Depending on the call, there would be a report written by the officer on the call. That's just for logistics and dispatch information — what we responded to. But the other report would be a medical report that the lead paramedic would write.
MR. BRENNAN: Were you working on January 29th, 2022?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Was that an assigned shift for you?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you volunteer or ask to work specially that night, or was that already assigned — was that assignment already set before that night?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: When you get a shift assigned to you, is it night by night, week by week, month by month?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: We rotate through — if you're on a group you rotate through a schedule. It's set that you work 24, you have one day off, you work another 24, you have five off, and then the rotation begins again. So it's just a set schedule essentially, but it rotates through the weeks.
MR. BRENNAN: Was January 29, 2022 part of your set schedule?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: When you have a set schedule, are you assigned a specific role in the department that might change from shift to shift?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: What was your specific role on January 29th, 2022?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: For that shift, I was on the engine. I was the backstep. So there's an engine driver, there's an engine lieutenant, and then there's one person in the back who's just a firefighter status. And we call that the backstep.
MR. BRENNAN: As the backstep that night, did you have any specific or general responsibilities if there was a call?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Generally, if it's a fire-related call, you deal with that. If it's a medical call, you're there to assist the paramedics that are on the ambulance and you take directive from them. Whatever they ask you to do or need you to do, you're just there to assist them so that they can best focus on the patient.
MR. BRENNAN: When you arrive at the scene and you're on the backstep, are you basically at the directive of the leader of the group?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: That morning, around a little after 6:00 in the morning on January 29, 2022, do you remember a call or a tone coming in?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you remember what it was for?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: It was for a man down in the snow, or a man unresponsive in the snow.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you remember leaving the fire department that night?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I do.
MR. BRENNAN: Tell us as you're leaving, what's happening.
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: So I'm in the engine. The command car with the captain who runs the shift started to 34 Fairview Road first. The ambulance was in front of us and then we were behind the ambulance.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you know the address you were going to was 34 Fairview Road?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: When you left the fire station, when you got on the back of the truck, did you know at that time who lived at 34 Fairview Road?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Tell us a little bit about the conditions outside as you rode to 34 Fairview Road.
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: It was — I'm sorry, not raining. It was snowing pretty heavily. There was definitely snow on the ground at that point. It was windy. It was very cold.
MR. BRENNAN: Was there a storm?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: How long do you think it took to get from the fire station to Fairview Road?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Probably within five or six minutes.
MR. BRENNAN: When you first started pulling up towards Fairview Road, did you see anything?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Police cruisers and a civilian vehicle. And then we pulled up all kind of in front of that.
MR. BRENNAN: How many police cruisers did you see as you pulled up to Fairview Road?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I remember seeing one.
MR. BRENNAN: There was an ambulance in front of you?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did the police cruiser have their lights on?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Not just the headlights. Did they have the lights that are often referred to as blue lights or overhead lights?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you hear any sirens?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: How about the ambulance? Did the ambulance have emergency lights?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you hear any sirens?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: The fire truck — does the fire truck have emergency lights?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you remember if those were activated?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yep.
MR. BRENNAN: Does the fire engine have a siren?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Was the siren activated?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Why not?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: We only use the sirens to kind of clear cars out of the road. There's no need to use a siren when there's no cars on the road. So we're not just doing it in the middle of the morning to wake everybody up. It's just unnecessary.
MR. BRENNAN: When you first arrived at Fairview Road and you saw the emergency vehicles, did you see any people?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: While you were still in the fire truck or after you got out of the fire truck?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Probably after I got out.
MR. BRENNAN: After you get out of the fire truck, where do you go?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: So I knew that they were working on a patient, so I knew they were going to need the stretcher, so myself and firefighter Walsh went right to the ambulance and retrieved the stretcher and brought it as close to the patient as we could.
MR. BRENNAN: At some point, did you see the patient?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Was it he or she?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: It was a man.
MR. BRENNAN: Where was he when you first saw him?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: He was lying supine on the side of the road, off the curb, into a lawn.
MR. BRENNAN: How close to him were you when you first saw him?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, I only made it to the curb, where I brought the stretcher. He was maybe from here to that table, maybe.
MR. BRENNAN: When you stood on the curb and you saw that man lying, were his feet closest to you, his head, or his side?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: His head would be closer to me.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you lift the man from the ground?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Did some of your colleagues?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: After you brought the stretcher or the bed to the side of the road, did you remain there on the side of the road?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: They lifted him on the backboard. They put him on the stretcher and then they pretty much immediately started moving to bring him in the back of the ambulance.
MR. BRENNAN: Around the area where you first saw this man lying supine on the ground, was there anything other than ground? Were there any objects near him?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I remember seeing a fire hydrant. And that's all I can really remember.
MR. BRENNAN: When you mentioned that he was lying about as close to that table as you, would 8 to 10 feet be a fair estimate?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I don't know that I could say.
MR. BRENNAN: Okay. At some point, did you receive further directions from anybody on the team asking you to do something?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. I was at the head of the stretcher with firefighter Flatley. And he asked me to try to gather more information and kind of see what happened and what was going on.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you have someone that you wanted to gather information from?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. There was a woman who seemed to be really concerned and involved with the patient's status, and so I just kind of assumed that this would be the person that I could try to get more information from.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you take a guess?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah.
MR. BRENNAN: The person that you tried to get more information from, do you see that person in the courtroom today?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I do.
MR. BRENNAN: Could you point that person out and describe an article of clothing they wear?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Black suit.
MR. BRENNAN: And do you see where that person is sitting, in between?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I do. Her attorneys.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you approach that person?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I did.
MR. BRENNAN: Now, you mentioned you're not a police officer or criminal investigator. What type of information are you hoping to get generally in these circumstances?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Some basic demographic info. You can answer a lot of questions by just asking a few very simple ones. So obviously you're trying to get his name and his date of birth. And then you ask questions if the patient has a medical history, if the patient takes daily medications, if the patient has any allergies. And that's all things that can inform — help to sort of maybe explain why this person is in the position that he's in. For example, if someone reported that he had a heart condition or a seizure disorder, or he was a diabetic, that would help us — that's relevant information for his treatment and to pass on to the hospital.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you have a chance to speak with the person that you had pointed out?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I did.
MR. BRENNAN: When you spoke to that person, did you get a chance to ask any of those questions you typically ask?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I did.
MR. BRENNAN: When you spoke to the person, what did they tell you?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: She gave me his name, his date of birth. She denied him having any medical history or daily medications or allergies. I was kind of moving around. She was moving around the scene. She was — so I was kind of moving around trying to gather the information with her.
MR. BRENNAN: Did she say anything to you in addition to the typical background information that you would try to obtain from somebody?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: What did she say?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, I asked another question. Once we had come to a stop, I asked if there had been any significant trauma that happened that preceded this. And she answered with a series of statements that she repeated. "I hit him. I hit him." There was a woman next to us who told her to calm down. "Stop talking. Calm down. You're hysterical." So she repeated, "I hit him." And a police officer asked her, said, "You what?" And she repeated it again. "I hit him." And the officer then signaled for his sergeant to come down to the scene, or down to where he was.
MR. BRENNAN: When she first told you that she had hit him, you said there was another woman next to her. Do you know who that woman was?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Not at the time.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you now know who that woman was?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I do.
MR. BRENNAN: And who was that?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Miss Jen McCabe.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you know Miss McCabe at that time?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you know her personally now?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Are you friendly or friends with her in any way?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: You mentioned that when the defendant said, "I hit him" — "I hit him" — Miss McCabe was trying to intervene.
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, it appeared that way.
MR. BRENNAN: What did it appear she was trying to do?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Trying to get her to calm down, to stop talking. It appeared that she was —
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained. Disregard that comment.
MR. BRENNAN: Did Miss McCabe interject verbally?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: After Miss McCabe interjected and the defendant made those statements about hitting him, did you persist in getting more information asking to clarify what she meant by "I hit him"?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No, I did not.
MR. BRENNAN: Why not?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: A few reasons. I felt at that point, given the situation and how disturbing and it was a very emotional situation. The woman was very upset. I didn't feel comfortable pushing and asking for more. I just didn't think that it was the right time for that. And it was also really not my place at that point. I feel like that was something that the police were — that's more their role.
MR. BRENNAN: Asking follow-up questions about what she meant by "I hit him" — would that have helped your diagnosis and treatment of the man in any way?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: It could have.
MR. BRENNAN: But you made the decision to stop asking her questions.
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I did.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you ask her any more questions after she said "I hit him"?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I decided not to.
MR. BRENNAN: At some point after you spoke to the defendant, did you go back to the ambulance and tell anybody, any of your colleagues?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I did.
MR. BRENNAN: And why would you do that?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: That's the whole point of me trying to get more information — I get the information, I bring it back to the people who are treating the patient.
MR. BRENNAN: So did you go back to the ambulance and repeat that information to your colleagues?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I did.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you have any other further role at the scene as far as helping the man or doing anything else?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No. Other than I drove the ambulance to the hospital with the gentleman in the ambulance.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you learn who that person was?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you know at the time who it was?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: When you got to 34 Fairview Road, did you recognize the home when you got there?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you later learn who lived at that home?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you know somebody who had lived at that home?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Did you know that person lived there prior to that night?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I learned that she lived there.
MR. BRENNAN: Okay. And that person that you knew lived there, what is their name?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Caitlin Albert.
MR. BRENNAN: How did you know Caitlin Albert?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: We went to high school together. We're in the same grade. We have mutual friends, and growing up we had different friend groups, but those groups would often get together in bigger groups and hang out. I see her in group settings. I socialize with her occasionally. I don't have a personal relationship with her. I wouldn't consider her to be a friend of mine, but I do see her occasionally because of social events. I don't have a one-on-one. I don't have a close personal relationship with her.
MR. BRENNAN: Was she a friend on social media back at the time?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah.
MR. BRENNAN: Since this event, have you been on any outings or trips with friends of hers or in a group setting where she was present?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I don't remember ever seeing her since then.
MR. BRENNAN: Had you ever talked to her about your role that night?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Never.
MR. BRENNAN: Did the fact that somebody you knew lived in that house have anything to do with your treatment and care that morning?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Not at all.
MR. BRENNAN: When you saw the man in the back of the ambulance, did you make note whether he was missing any clothing items?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: He was missing a shoe, a sneaker.
MR. BRENNAN: I'd like, with the court's permission, to play exhibit 4, part of it.
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay.
MR. BRENNAN: Miss Gilman, if you can start at 6:13:05. Stop, please. Do you recognize whether or not you're in that video, ma'am?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: What color jacket are you wearing?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I'm in the red and yellow jacket.
MR. BRENNAN: Okay, continue, please. Stop, please. There are two yellow jackets — one on the left, one in the middle of the screen. Do you know which one is you?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I'm now in the middle of the screen.
MR. BRENNAN: Continue, please. Stop, please. Do you know who that is on the left of the screen at the flag pole?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Which one?
MR. BRENNAN: To the left. If you could play a few more seconds, Miss Gilman. It's two officers and a civilian woman. Okay. How about on the left — do you know who that is?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Okay. And that time is 6:15. If you can continue, please. Stop, please. Is that you, ma'am, in the yellow?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Okay, continue, please. Stop, please. Do you see yourself on that screen?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: What color jacket?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: The red and yellow.
MR. BRENNAN: And who's to your left?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Miss Read.
MR. BRENNAN: Across from you, with the blue or black jacket with the hood — do you know who that is at this time?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Miss McCabe.
MR. BRENNAN: And you didn't know her at the time?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you see the officer that's turned away from you?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you know who he's speaking to?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: No.
MR. BRENNAN: Do you know the exact moment that the defendant told you, "I hit him. I hit him. I hit him."?
MS. MCLAUGHLIN: I think it was just prior to that.
MR. BRENNAN: Okay. Continue. Stop, please. Thank you. I have no further questions.