(NewsSpace.com) – On January 29, 2022, John O’Keefe, a Boston Police officer, died outside the home of one of his colleagues, Brian Albert. He had gone out with his girlfriend, Karen Read, and friends the night before. The couple allegedly fought while at Albert’s house, and Read is accused of backing her SUV into him and driving off, leaving him to die. She was charged with multiple offenses, and her trial is now underway.
The chain of events leading up to the charges begins on January 28, when a group including Read and O’Keefe went out to the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton. They reportedly gathered back at Albert’s house afterward, and that’s when Read and O’Keefe got into a fight, and she drove home. Around 5 a.m., she called her boyfriend’s niece and another woman, frantic that he hadn’t come home. They reportedly drove around trying to find him, and they did in Albert’s yard.
Police were called to the scene around 6 a.m., and O’Keefe, whose body was under snow, was pronounced dead. The medical examiner determined his cause of death was blunt impact injuries to his head and hypothermia. There were no “obvious signs of an altercation or a fight.” Read was later charged with second-degree murder, leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death, and manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol.
The defense is saying that Read was set up and is the scapegoat in a larger cover-up, in which officers gave a grand jury “false and deceptive testimony” that would later result in Read’s indictment. Read’s lawyers say that O’Keefe was killed in a fight or by Albert’s dog and dragged outside. They also contend that the lead investigator on the case, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, has ties to Albert’s family, which has a lot of sway in the area.
The controversy has divided the town. The trial is underway with jury selection, which is expected to be challenging given the exposure and nature of O’Keefe’s death.
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