During the first full day of testimony in the Karen Read trial Tuesday, a paramedic who responded to the scene where Boston cop John O’Keefe’s body was found said that he heard her repeatedly say that she “hit” O’Keefe.
Firefighter paramedic Timothy Nuttall was at the scene treating O’Keefe when he heard a woman, later identified as Read, screaming. He said that he asked Read if she knew what happened.
“I did hear one individual that said ‘I hit, hit him, I hit him,”” Nuttall testified.
Read, 44, is accused of hitting her O’Keefe, her boyfriend, with her SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, outside a home of another cop in Canton and leaving him for dead during a blizzard. She’s charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. O’Keefe, 46, died of blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia.
During cross-examination, Read’s lawyer Alan Jackson got Nuttall to admit that O’Keefe’s injuries could have come from being in a fight, though he said they could have happened in a variety of different ways. Read denies killing O’Keefe and her defense is that he went inside of the home of Boston police officer Brian Albert where he got into a fight and was dumped outside unconscious.
Nuttall also testified that O’Keefe did not have a pulse when they checked and he was stiff to the touch, possibly because he was in the elements for a long period of time.
More coverage: Karen Read made a ‘beeline’ for dead cop boyfriend John O’Keefe’s body hours after killing him, prosecutors say
The day started with the cross-examination of the first officer on scene, Steven Saraf of the Canton Police Department. Read’s defense lawyers highlighted the differences between what the first officer wrote in his police report about what he heard Read say and what he subsequently testified.
Saraf wrote in his initial report that when he arrived on scene Read was hysterical and repeatedly screamed “Is he dead?”
Saraf also said he saw O’Keefe unconscious.
During cross-examination, Jackson had Saraf read a transcript of his testimony in front of a grand jury in April 2022 that would go on to indict Read. Saraf testified to the grand jury that he heard Read make additional statements. He told the grand jury he heard her say “this is my fault” and “I can’t believe this happened.”
Karen Read listens to testimony during the first full day of testimony. (Law&Crime Network)
Jackson accused Saraf of changing his story when he testified in front of the grand jury, which Saraf denied.
“I testified to what I remember happening, sir,” Saraf told Jackson.
Saraf said the omission of Read’s statement was “an oversight.”
When Saraf testified during direct examination in the trial Monday, Saraf also added an additional statement that Read said that he did not include in the initial police report nor during his grand jury testimony. He testified that Read said “It’s all my fault. I did this.”
More coverage: ‘Karen Read was framed’: Defense attorney says investigation into cop boyfriend’s death was ‘shoddy’ and ‘biased’
Jackson questioned why Saraf did not include those statements in his police report.
“It’s an oversight that a woman that you made contact with standing over the body of a fallen police officer said to you ‘this is my fault?’ Just missed that one?” Jackson asked.
Seraf reiterated he just testified as to what he remembered.
“If you were to testify in two or three weeks do you think your statement would just keep evolving?” Jackson asked.
Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally objected and the judge sustained the objection.
Both Seraf and the second officer on scene, Stephen Mullaney, testified that they did not see any taillight pieces on or near O’Keefe’s body. It was dark and there were about 4 to 6 inches of snow on the ground and more flurries flying when they found O’Keefe’s body. Read’s attorney David Yannetti suggested during opening arguments that police planted the taillight because cops “miraculously” found taillight pieces hours later and in the days and weeks following the incident.
The jury heard a half-day of testimony on Tuesday and will reconvene Thursday morning.
During opening statements, Lally told the jury that the facts show that Read hit O’Keefe and left him for dead. The couple was having problems and the relationship was on the verge of ending, Lally said. Yannetti said that Read was “framed” for O’Keefe’s death and is the victim of a conspiracy that protects Albert, a well-known and connected cop, along with his family and friends who are the true suspects in the case.
The jury consists of 17 — 10 women and seven men, including alternates. The trial is expected to last six or seven weeks.
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