UPMC Altoona ER technician details alleged assault
Dunn was reportedly attacked by UPMC patient while acting as ‘patient sitter’
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The ER technician who was allegedly attacked by a patient at UPMC Altoona in November took the stand during the first day of the man's jury trial Tuesday morning to detail the ordeal that left him with a skull fracture, brain bleed and ongoing memory problems.
Travis Dunn said he has a "missing chunk of time" from when he was acting as a "patient sitter" for Bradley Scott Lloyd, 41, in the hospital's emergency department.
"My next memory is waking up and seeing my colleagues looking down at me," Dunn said. "I couldn't move my head, I couldn't move my body because I was on a body board."
Lloyd, who has been imprisoned at the Blair County Prison with bail denied since his arrest, is facing three felony counts of aggravated assault, two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and a misdemeanor count of simple assault.
Dunn said when he arrived for work the morning of Nov. 1, 2025, he could hear "something happening" in the emergency department's psychiatric unit involving Lloyd and called for the hospital police to "take care of the situation." Lloyd was removed from the unit and placed in a patient room in the emergency department's general unit.
Dunn was then approached by the shift's charge nurse, who asked him to sit with Lloyd so he didn't hurt himself.
Through questioning by Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mays, Dunn described feeling "panic, pain and confusion" upon regaining consciousness following the attack.
"They were trying to hold it together," Dunn said of his colleagues who rendered him emergency care, "but some of them were really affected by what I was going through."
Dunn said after being assessed in the department's trauma bay, he was flown by helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, where he underwent emergency neurosurgery. He spent the next three days in the hospital, with the following month spent traveling back and forth between Altoona and Pittsburgh for follow-up appointments.
When asked by Mays if he suffered any lasting effects from the attack, Dunn said he had "memory issues off the bat," slight speech issues, daily pain, "headaches unlike anything else" and PTSD. He also had to attend physical therapy four days a week to work on his motor skills, but had been able to drop down to just two days a week.
"The PTSD is probably the worst part," Dunn said.
On cross examination by Chief Public Defender Julia Burke, Dunn confirmed that UPMC had specially trained patient sitters, but he was told to fill in because none were available to watch Lloyd due to a lack of resources.
Burke also questioned Dunn about a lawsuit he has filed against UPMC seeking monetary damages for the harm he suffered as a result of UPMC's conduct. Dunn acknowledged the lawsuit, but couldn't provide specific details.
Jessica Colter, a staff travel nurse with UPMC, said Lloyd was brought from the psychiatric unit after causing a disturbance and that things were calm until Lloyd "began screaming 'you people need to stop f***ing with me.'"
In describing the alleged attack, Colter said Dunn "in no way tried to defend himself" and only tried to cover his head with his hands. Dunn was knocked unconscious and Lloyd shoved the chair he was sitting in, sending Dunn to the floor.
"I actually wondered if he was dead," Colter said.
When Burke asked if anyone had intervened before Lloyd stopped attacking Dunn, Colter said "there wasn't enough time."
The jury also heard from Michael Lang, the neurosurgeon who treated Dunn in Pittsburgh. Lang said Dunn "seemed to have multiple traumas to the head," a depressed skull fracture and multiple "critical" hemorrhages in his brain.
Lang said there were fragments of skull "pressed in on" Dunn's brain and that he performed a craniotomy to relieve pressure.
"This fracture can't heal without surgery or a permanent deformity of the skull," Lang said.
UPMC Altoona Police Cpl. William Chase was the last witness of the day and said he was stationed at the hospital's ambulance bay when he was notified by a "frantic" physician's assistant about the assault.
Chase said Lloyd was not compliant to officers' commands once they approached him in the emergency department.
"He was ready to fight," Chase said.
Under questioning by Burke, Chase confirmed that Lloyd was voluntarily seeking help in the emergency department's psychiatric unit when staff first had issues with him. Chase said Lloyd had expressed the desire to leave the hospital but was transferred to the emergency department's general unit, where he was kept for several hours.
When asked by Burke if Lloyd eventually complied with officers, Chase said yes. He also confirmed that Lloyd had not been violent before or after assaulting Dunn.
Following Chase's testimony, Mays rested the prosecution's case.
Outside the presence of the jury, Burke informed presiding President Judge Wade A. Kagarise that Lloyd had decided against taking the stand in his own defense and that the defense also intended to rest its case.
Closing arguments are expected to be given this morning, with the jury to begin its deliberations thereafter.
Mirror staff writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.