By RENEE FOX

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Attorneys defending an ambulance company against a civil liability suit argue their client’s dispatcher fulfilled his duty the night Erika Huff, 41, was murdered — even if he didn’t convey information an attorney for her estate contends the dispatcher knew and didn’t share with emergency medical technicians that responded to the scene.

Defense attorney Nick Resetar argued Monday in his line of questioning that Huff was likely already dead — or at least it couldn’t be proved she was alive — when the EMTs responded to her 44 Cleveland St. home and left after taking the word of Lance Hundley that everything was fine inside.

Hundley is on death row after being convicted in May 2018 of aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and two counts of aggravated arson. Denise Johnson, Huff’s mother, was brutally attacked after she came to her daughter’s house to let the EMTs in, only to find they had already came and went. Hundley blindsided her with a hammer, striking her dozens of times and left her with permanent neurological issues.

Even though Youngs-town dispatcher Rose Freeman felt it pertinent to tell James “Monty” Hill certain information when she called the ambulance company to respond to the call of an unknown medical problem — including the name, age and disability of the woman who the device was registered to, Hill did not convey the information to the EMTs.

Attorney David Engler, who brought the suit on behalf of Huff’s family, said Freeman told Hill that that Huff had multiple sclerosis and was a 41-year-old woman, because it was relevant information to first responders. It was unlikely that Huff would have been able to answer the door for EMTs, so they should have asked for police or fire to go along on the call to help them in, Engler suggested.

Resetar asked questions of Hill about the process of responding to a medical call, including the type involving a signal from a medical alert device.

Hill, who has been with AMR for about five years, first signing on when the company was known as Rural Metro, testified that he did not convey the information because it couldn’t be ascertained as actually relevant to the call. Even though the device was registered to Huff, it could have been pressed by anyone, or by accident, Hill said.

Hill said he gets three to four calls from medical alert devices and they are often accidental. But, Hill said, he treats the calls equally because he doesn’t know which will turn out to be real emergencies.

“I don’t know that it is a false alarm until somebody gets there,” Hill said.

The latest case of a medical alert device being pressed in an incident that was not a medical emergency was when a man used it to ask for an ambulance to come turn on his air conditioner and get him a drink of water, Hill said.

It is unclear if AMR or Youngstown dispatching have adjusted their policies since the Nov. 6, 2015, incident.

Hill said his responsibility is to send someone to the scene as quickly as possible.

Engler suggested getting a crew to the scene quickly is important, but so is conveying the information the emergency responders need to do their jobs.

If a person was stuck in a ravine and the dispatcher knew that, wouldn’t he convey that information to EMTs so they could line up an all-terrain vehicle or something of that nature to assist in the rescue?

Hill agreed that information would be relevant, but in the Huff case, Hill said he didn’t know the nature of why the device was pressed, so he stuck to what he knew — an address and that there was an unknown medical problem.

“Everything is unknown, you don’t know what is going on so you can’t assume anything,” Hill said.

But, what if the door was locked, how would EMTs have gotten in? Engler asked. Hill said in those situations there is sometimes a lock box. But, Engler asked, did Hill know that or convey that information? No, Hill responded. Hundley answered the door, and if no one had answered, they probably would have called the fire department to let them in, Hill said.

EMTs had no reason to suspect Hundley was lying when he said Huff was fine and the device was pressed accidentally, Resetar argued.

A video deposition was also played for the jury from Dr. Michael G. Balko, a forensic pathologist in Kentucky. Balko testified it cannot be known if Huff was alive when the medical device was pressed or if she was alive when the EMTs arrived.

The testimony contrasts with the testimony for the plaintiff last week by retired Youngstown police detective Sgt. Ron Rodway, who said he believes Huff pressed the device during or in between bouts of the attack. She was strangled with the medical alert device, but the cause of death was blunt force trauma. The alert went off at 2 a.m., the EMTs arrived at 2:09 a.m. and left at 2:11 a.m. The time of death was between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., according to the coroner’s report.

Engler is seeking millions of dollars in the suit. Youngstown still contracts with AMR.

rfox@tribtoday.com