ERVING — Last year, Erving Police Officer James Loynd saved the life of a fellow law enforcement officer, and likely protected a mother and her children, when he fired at a knife-wielding assailant.
Wednesday, Loynd was awarded the Franklin County Chiefs of Police Recognition Award, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Loynd has been recognized several times this year for his actions in the face of danger. In January, he was commended by Erving Police Chief Chris Blair for having “undeniably saved human lives,” and, in October, Gov. Charlie Baker awarded Loynd the George L. Hanna Medal of Honor, the highest honor bestowed on police officers in Massachusetts.
It was Oct. 19, 2018, when an on-duty Loynd received a radio transmission that the Massachusetts State Police were pursuing a vehicle that exited Route 91 east onto Route 2. Loynd spotted the stolen vehicle speeding through Erving and joined the chase.
Also involved in the pursuit was Massachusetts State Police Trooper Mark Whitcomb, who trailed the vehicle, operated by an 18-year-old Nghia Le, of Manchester, N.H., until it crashed off Route 202 in New Salem.
Le had stolen the vehicle following a car accident in New Hampshire, and fled through Vermont and then into Franklin County. As Whitcomb exited his cruiser to confront Le, Le charged him, stabbing him repeatedly.
Whitcomb later recalled that he didn’t realize he was injured until he saw blood, and was primarily concerned for a nearby mother and her children, who hid in a car after witnessing the attack.
Loynd, reaching the scene shortly after Whitcomb, saw the downed trooper and Le attempting to steal his state police cruiser. When Le exited Whitcomb’s cruiser and approached, Whitcomb, severely injured, called out to warn Loynd that Le was armed.
Loynd fired four shots, but in the process of subduing Le was able to toss Whitcomb his medical pack, which included a tourniquet for the trooper’s bleeding arm, and then provided life-saving first aid to the trooper.
It was shown on video later that Le was possibly charging at the woman and child to commit another carjacking, and Blair wrote in his commendation letter that Loynd, by confronting Le and acting fast, “not only conducted himself professionally and responsibly but undeniably saved human lives that day.”
In September, Le was sentenced to serve 10 to 12 years in prison for his crimes, with Judge Richard Carey citing the seriousness of Le’s crimes, as well as Le’s obvious “mental deficiencies,” in deciding his sentence.
Carey commended both Loynd and Whitcomb, and said, “The first person each of them thought about was the other. It was nothing short of heroic” — Loynd for tossing Whitcomb his first aid pack in the midst of the danger, and Whitcomb for calling out to warn Loynd that Le was armed with a knife.
In court, Loynd said he has “grappled with a strong sense of guilt,” because Whitcomb was so seriously wounded. He also said he dealt with the stress of an investigation into whether he responded properly by shooting Le, and “pervasive anti-cop sentiment” in the media and on social media following the attack.
Whitcomb was also honored at the Massachusetts State House in Boston with the George L. Hanna Medal of Honor, and continues to recover from his injuries, which included a punctured lung and nerve damage to his forehead and left arm.
According to a May 7, 2014, post on the Erving Police Department’s official Facebook page, Loynd joined the department in 2006. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Loynd also received two letters of commendation in 2018, including for peacefully resolving an incident with a knife-wielding suicidal man on the French King Bridge.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.