As the second-degree murder trial against Karen Read continues, the emergency crews who responded to the death of John O’Keefe are expressing different recollections on the witness stand.
The high-profile Karen Read murder trial resumed Thursday with more testimony from first responders, four of whom testified.
One line of questioning that both the prosecution and defense followed with each witness Thursday involved what they heard a distraught Read say at the scene of the incident.
Read is charged with second-degree murder in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. He was found in the snow outside fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert's home in Canton, Massachusetts. Prosecutors say Read hit O'Keefe with her SUV, while Read says she has been framed in a wide-ranging coverup. Read has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
The first responders testified to hearing Read say different things amid the emergency response for O'Keefe: "I hit him, I hit him," "He's dead, he's f***** dead," "Is he alive?" and, repeatedly, "I hit him."
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When Read was indicted by a grand jury on a second-degree murder charge in June, prosecutors said in court that Read told a Canton firefighter/paramedic at the scene, "I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him."
Watch Karen Read trial Day 3 testimony (May 2, 2024)
The first witness called on Thursday was Canton fire Lt. Anthony Flematti, who'd begun his testimony on Tuesday afternoon. He was one of the first responders to the scene of O'Keefe's death.
Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally asked Flematti about his arrival at the scene, standard department operating procedures and the weather on the night O'Keefe's body was found. He also described seeing three women at the scene in addition to O'Keefe.
He said O'Keefe's body was covered by 4-6 inches of snow when he arrived, and O'Keefe was underdressed for the weather in a long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans. A previous witness earlier in the week had testified that O'Keefe was dressed for the weather.
Flematti said as he and other firefighters and EMTs arrived at the scene, he began speaking to Read to find out what might have transpired. He said he spoke to her first because she seemed to be the one most distressed. He said she was attempting to perform CPR but her behavior was erratic.
"We tried to get any type of information we could from her at that time, with no luck," he said. "The only response I was given was, 'I hit him, I hit him, oh my God I hit him.'" He said Read's comments were very loud, and she didn't answer his additional questions, only repeating, "I hit him, I hit him."
Defense attorney Alan Jackson then cross-examined Flematti about Read's response to his questions on the night of O'Keefe's death, focusing specifically on how the fire lieutenant moved Read over to speak with a different firefighter after he refused to get any answers from her.
Around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Jackson was about to show dashcam video from the night of the incident so that Flematti could show him the portion where he was having a discussion with Read, but Judge Beverly Cannone wanted to view it first, ordering the jurors out of the room.
Following a recess, Jackson began showing the dashcam footage, a still image of which can be seen below:
The footage showed multiple people moving about, and first responders attending to O'Keefe. But Flematti struggled to identify any of the people in the dashcam video -- including himself -- because the video was at least partly obscured by the weather conditions.
Jackson showed a portion of dashcam video showing the ambulance doors being closed, and asked Flematti if he was inside the ambulance at that point. Flematti said he was in the ambulance at some point, but couldn't confirm he was inside the ambulance the entire time, saying he might have exited the vehicle to collect equipment.
The defense attorney appeared to be trying to get Flematti to confirm that he was inside the ambulance and thus wasn't part of the group of first responders speaking with Read outside.
Jackson also pointed out during cross-examination that nowhere in his reports did Flematti mention to investigators or doctors that he believed Read had told him O'Keefe might have been hit by a vehicle.
"It would have been important yes," Flematti acknowledged. "It's not in the reports, no."
During redirect, Lally asked Flematti again about the conversation Flematti said he had with Read where she reportedly told him, "I hit him." Lally noted, and Flematti confirmed that the interaction occurred when Flematti first arrived at the scene.
The second witness of the day, Canton firefighter/paramedic Matthew Kelly, was called around 11:20 p.m. He was also one of the first responders to the scene of O'Keefe's death.
Lally began by questioning him about his work history and training, and the route he took to the scene.
He described seeing a frantic woman screaming, at least twice, "He's dead, he's f***** dead."
On cross-examination, Read attorney David Yannetti asked Kelly about what he saw at the scene, including confirming that O'Keefe had one shoe on, whose matching pair he didn't see, and about standard procedure when responding to incidents.
After confirming that he never heard Read say, "I hit him," Yannetti played video from a police cruiser's dashcam. On it, Kelly said, "I heard someone say, 'f***** dead.'"
Lally returned to ask more quesitons of his own, establishing that it wasn't clear to Kelly he was at the scene when the video Yannetti showed was taken. The prosecutor also confirmed with Kelly that he and his team weren't always together, so they may not all have heard what others heard.
Firefighter/paramedic Francis Walsh was next on the stand and recalled driving to the scene in very poor weather conditions. He didn't speak with the civilian women at the scene, but heard one screaming and crying. All he recalled hearing her saying was, "Is he alive?"
The last witness called Thursday was firefighter/paramedic Katie McLaughlin, who recalled being asked to talk to the women to find out what happened. Read answered some of the questions, but was distraught, and repeated, "I hit him."
Another woman said, "you're hysterical, you need to calm down," while an officer nearby said, "You what?" according to McLaughlin. Read repeated the phrase, and the police officer said, "Get Goodie down here," which she took to mean a police sergeant.
The day's testimony ended in the early afternoon — Thursdays are half days in the trial — with McLaughlin due to continue her testimony on Friday. Jurors will also go into the field to visit at least one scene that will be that day.
Legal experts have told NBC10 Boston that some of that early police testimony has shown that the investigation into O'Keefe's death "wasn't thorough." Read's defense team has already poked holes in police protocols, questioning why investigators didn't go into the home or talk to the homeowner's after O'Keefe was found.
"As a law enforcement investigator, the first thing you're looking for are facts. Facts lead to evidence, evidence can be gleaned from eyewitness accounts, from the Ring doorbells, anything that can help you stitch this mystery back together again," security analyst Todd McGee, a retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, told NBC10 Boston. "And the fact that the investigation wasn't thorough provides a big wrinkle in the prosecution's case."
We heard more from the families of those involved Wednesday, as they fight for their own form of justice.
For the Read family, court has already taken its toll just two days into testimony.
"If you've been in that courtroom, and if you've listened, it's difficult not to feel the same way I feel and my family feels," William Read said.
O'Keefe's family is also seeking justice. The officer was just 46 years old when his life was cut short two years ago.
Through the first two days of testimony, jurors have heard from family members of O'Keefe, along with police officers and firefighters who responded to the scene of his death in Canton in January of 2022.
April 30, 2024 | Watch Karen Read Day 2 testimony
Here's what we learned through the first two days of testimony in the controversial murder case:
Day 1: Opening statements, O'Keefe's brother, sister-in-law testify
The trial opened Monday with prosecutors saying a cracked taillight and Read's own words to firefighters that she "hit him" will prove she is guilty.
"The defendant, Karen Read, is guilty of murder in the second degree, striking the victim, Mr. O’Keefe, with her car, knocking him back onto the ground, striking his head on the ground, causing the bleeding in his brain and swelling, and then leaving him there for several hours in a blizzard," Lally told the jury.
As the case unfolded, the defense’s strategy has been to portray a vast conspiracy involving a police coverup. It has earned Read a loyal band of supporters — who often can be found camped out at the courthouse — and has garnered the case national attention.
"Karen Read was framed," Yannetti told the jury. "Her car never struck John O’Keefe. She did not cause his death and that means somebody else did."
The couple had been to two bars on a night in January 2022, prosecutors alleged, and were then headed to a party in nearby Canton. Read said she did not feel well and decided not to attend. Once at the home, O’Keefe got out of Read’s vehicle, and while she made a three-point turn, she allegedly struck him and then drove away, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors haven’t said where they think she went after that. However, they allege she later became frantic after she said she couldn’t reach O’Keefe. She returned to the site of the party, where she and two friends found O’Keefe covered in snow. While on the scene, firefighters said she told them “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.”
He was pronounced dead at a hospital. An autopsy concluded he died from head trauma and hypothermia.
Investigators found a cracked right rear tail light near where O’Keefe was found and scratches on her SUV. Prosecutors are also expected to present evidence of injuries suffered by O’Keefe consistent with him being hit by the car and strains in the couple’s relationship including a “20 minute screaming match” witnessed by O’Keefe’s two adopted children they had while on vacation in Aruba.
The defense has spent months arguing in court that the case was marred by conflicts of interest and accused prosecutors of presenting false and deceptive evidence to the grand jury. In a motion to dismiss the case, the defense called the prosecution’s case “predicated entirely on flimsy speculation and presumption.” A Superior Court judge denied the request.
On Monday, Yannetti argued that close relationships between investigators and those in the house resulted in authorities focusing solely on Reid, whom the defense described as a “convenient outsider.”
Yannetti also claimed investigators failed to consider the possibility that O’Keefe got into a fight at the party and was left for dead outside. While not offering evidence of who was responsible, they laid out of a series of missteps in the investigation — failing to investigate a history of animosity between O’Keefe and the family who owned the home nor searching the home for evidence of a struggle.
They also are expected to provide evidence that Read’s taillight was damaged when she hit O’Keefe’s car hours later at their home — not at the party — and dispute that the couple had a strained relationship. They got along well that night and had made plans for several trips in the months ahead.
“You will question the Commonwealth’s theory of the case,” Yannetti said. “You will question the quality of the Commonwealth’s evidence. You will question the veracity of the Commonwealth’s witnesses and you will question their shoddy and biased investigation.”
In August, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey criticized suggestions that state and local enforcement were orchestrating a cover up, saying there is no evidence to support O’Keefe was in the Canton home where the party took place nor was in a fight.
The idea that multiple police departments and his office would be involved in a “vast conspiracy” in this case is “a desperate attempt to reassign guilt.”
Such comments have done little to silence Read’s supporters, dozens of whom dressed in pink for the first day of the trial.
The first witness in the trial was O’Keefe’s brother, Paul, who described in harrowing detail having to rush to the hospital that morning, walking past Read, who was repeatedly screaming “Is he alive?” and into a room where his brother’s body was covered partially with a white sheet.
“He was pretty banged up,” Paul O’Keefe told the jury, detailing how his brother had blood running down his mouth and nose and markings on his right arm. “What really stood out to me was the eyes. It was as if there were ping pong balls under his eyelids.”
The second witness to take the stand for the defense was Paul O'Keefe's wife, Erin. She testified about the Aruba trip, saying that Read reached out to her to say that she had seen John O'Keefe kissing someone else in the lobby of the hotel they were staying at.
She also testified about speaking to Read by phone soon after the body was discovered: "She just yelled back in the phone, 'John's dead!'"
Day 2: First responders take the stand
Read's demeanor and the words she uttered at the crime scene were the focus Tuesday on the second day of her trial.
Testimony from two police officers and two firefighters who arrived on the scene early Jan. 29, 2022, described a chaotic scene in which O’Keefe was laying face up and Read was attempting to give him CPR. She had blood on her mouth, possibly from giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They described Read as distraught and screaming and that O’Keefe had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.
They also described interactions with Read, in which she made statements that appear to implicate her in O’Keefe’s death.
Timothy Nuttall, a Canton firefighter who treated O’Keefe at the scene, recalled Read repeatedly saying, “I hit him,” when she was asked about what happened.
That built on testimony late Monday from Canton Police Officer Steven Saraf, who was among the first to arrive on the scene. He recalled Read being upset and saying: “This is my fault. This is my fault. I did this.” He also said Read repeatedly asked, “Is he dead?”
Defense attorneys on Tuesday attempted to discredit Saraf and raise doubts about the integrity of the investigation by pointing out mistakes made in the police dispatch log, including the wrong address where O’Keefe’s body was found. They also pointed out that Saraf never wrote in his police report that Read said, “This is my fault,” only that she screamed, “Is he dead?”
“In the two times you were asked to reflect back on exactly what happened on that morning Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, both times you attributed only three words to my client having been repeated continually in her distraught state, ‘Is he dead,’ right?” Jackson asked Saraf. In response, Saraf said yes.
But when Jackson tried to suggest Saraf’s memory of that morning was evolving, Saraf said that the discrepancy between what he initially wrote and what he later testified at the trial was “an oversight.”
The defense team also tried to raise doubts about what Nuttal heard, suggesting he was too focused on saving O’Keefe’s life to hear conversations around him. They also were able to get Saraf and another police officer to acknowledged they never heard Read say that she hit O’Keefe.
The defense also used the testimony from the police and firefighters to raise doubts more broadly about the investigation.
They were able to get Saraf and Canton Police Officer Stephen Mullaney to acknowledge they never saw pieces of broken taillight at the scene, which prosecutors say was found near O’Keefe’s body and are proof that Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe.
Initially, Nuttal said he couldn’t say whether the injuries — including a hematoma or egg over his right eye — came from a fight. But when pressed by Jackson, Nuttal acknowledged the injuries were consistent with getting beaten up.
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, with full days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
