Karen Read murder trial includes paramedic testifying he heard "I hit him, I hit him"
DEDHAM – Testimony in Karen Read's high-profile murder case continued on Tuesday. Witnesses included a Canton paramedic who testified that he heard a woman say "I hit him" the morning Boston police officer John O'Keefe's body was found in 2022.
The day began with a cross-examination of Canton police officer Steve Saraf, who was the first member of law enforcement on scene.
The start of testimony on Tuesday was scheduled to start at 9 a.m., but was delayed by about 25 minutes due to heavy traffic from a deadly crash on Interstate 95 in Needham.
Paramedic says he heard "I hit him, I hit him"
Timothy Nuttall, a Canton firefighter and paramedic, treated O'Keefe when his body was discovered.
Nuttall testified about O'Keefe's injuries and what he heard at the scene.
"I heard 'I hit him, I hit him,'" Nuttall said. He testified that a woman at the scene who had blood on her face responded by saying that when he asked "Do you know him?"
Nuttall said he was not certain which woman said it, but that she had blood on her face. Officer Saraf testified previously that Read had blood on her face after attempting to perform CPR on O'Keefe.
During cross-examination, Read's attorney Alan Jackson told Nuttall that it appears his testimony is different than what he told Massachusetts State Police lead investigator Michael Proctor, who has been accused of bias by the defense.
"The memories I have and the ones that I'm bringing up, I don't believe they've changed," Nuttall said. "I've played them over in my head to the best of my ability and I don't believe my story has swayed. If they've been annunciated incorrectly on my part, it hasn't been intentional."
Anthony Flematti, another Canton firefighter and EMT, began testimony after Nuttall. But around 1 p.m., the judge ended court for the day. Flematti's testimony is expected to resume on Thursday.
Canton police response
Earlier Tuesday, Canton police officer Stephen Mullaney was the second person who took the stand. He responded to the scene a short time after Saraf.
After a brief questioning by prosecutor Adam Lally, defense attorney David Yannetti cross-examined Mullaney about what he heard Read saying that day.
Mullaney said he did not hear Read, who he described as "absolutely hysterical," say "I did it," "It's my fault," or "I hit him."
Taillight evidence questioned
With each first responder who testified, Jackson began to suggest that pieces of Read's taillight were not actually at the scene but were planted there later.
Read's attorneys asked the officers why they never searched inside the house and questioned them about another officer who allegedly brought a leaf blower and blew around the snow looking for evidence.
"You certainly didn't see 45 pieces of broken plastic or taillight material, did you?" Jackson asked. "No," Saraf responded.
"Did you see even one piece of broken plastic?" Yannetti asked Mullaney. "I did not," Mullaney responded.
First responding officer cross-examined
Jackson began Tuesday's proceedings by questioning Saraf.
Jackson showed Saraf a dispatch log of the first three officers who responded to the Canton home where O'Keefe's body was found. The defense attorney and Saraf agreed that the times and address in the log were not accurate.
"A dispatch log which is so vital in an investigation is completely false, isn't it?" Jackson asked. Saraf responded that the inaccuracies were mistakes.
Jackson noted that Saraf told the grand jury that Read said at the scene "This is my fault," but he did not write that in his report the day O'Keefe died. Saraf called it an "oversight."
"That a woman, standing over the body of a fallen police officer, said to you 'This is my fault?' That's a pretty important omission," Jackson said.
Lally briefly asked Saraf follow-up questions after Jackson's cross-examination was completed, and the officer stepped down from the stand.
Both Saraf and Mullaney were asked by defense attorneys about the behavior of Jennifer McCabe at the scene, specifically that she did not appear as visibly upset as Read. McCabe's brother-in-law is Brian Albert, a Boston police officer who lived at the Canton home where O'Keefe's body was found.
McCabe and another woman were with Read when they found O'Keefe and called police.
Read's defense attorney happy with testimony
As they left court Tuesday, Karen Read's defense team said they believed the prosecution's witnesses actually helped her.
"The jury has heard so far every witness talk about the care that Karen gave to John, how upset she was," Yannetti said.
"Very thankful that we have the team we have," Karen Read's father, William Read said outside court.
Experts tell WBZ while the defense spends time poking holes in the police response, the words Karen Read said immediately following the discovery of O'Keefe's body are crucial to the prosecutors' case.
"We tend to believe that in that moment Karen Read's going to be more truthful than she would be 36 hours later let's say, when sitting in front of a police officer and being interrogated right? She's got more time to reflect," WBZ legal analyst Jennifer Roman said.
There will be no proceedings on Wednesday due to a scheduled day off. The judge said there is expected to be a half day of court on Thursday. On Friday, jurors will visit the Canton home where O'Keefe's body was found, then return to the courtroom for testimony in the afternoon.
Who is Karen Read?
Read is a 45-year-old woman from Massachusetts who allegedly hit and killed her boyfriend with her SUV in January 2022.
Read's trial got underway Monday inside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts with opening statements and the first witness.
Read is facing several charges, including second-degree murder and manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol. She has pleaded not guilty.
Recap of opening statements
Monday's proceedings began with Lally's opening statement.
"The only true and just verdict based on evidence is that the defendant Karen Read is guilty of murder in the second degree," Lally said.
Read's attorney David Yannetti began his opening statement by saying his client was framed.
"Her car never struck John O'Keefe. She never caused his death," Yannetti said.
Yannetti focused much of his opening statement on what he called compromised and biased police work both by Canton police and Massachusetts State Police.
First witnesses called
John O'Keefe's brother Paul was the first to take the stand in the trial, followed by his wife Erin. Paul and Erin O'Keefe each described their relationship with Read, and their recollections of learning that John O'Keefe had been killed.
Saraf was the third witness on Monday. During Saraf's testimony, prosecutors showed video from his cruiser's dashboard camera as he drove through a snowstorm and arrived on scene.
"She kept saying 'This is all my fault, this is my fault, I did this. She was very hysterical. She kept asking 'He's dead. Is he dead? Is he dead?'" Saraf testified.
When asked Monday if they plan to question Saraf, Read's attorneys said yes. That's when the judge ended proceedings for the day.
