DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - A snow plow driver testified Wednesday in the Karen Read murder retrial.
Brian “Lucky” Loughran was on the witness stand as the defense questioned him about his shift in Canton on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
Loughran explained that his route that morning took him past 34 Fairview Road, where Boston police officer John O’Keefe’s body was later found lying in the snow.
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, her boyfriend, by hitting him with her SUV. Prosecutors say she left him to die in the snow. Her lawyers argue she is being framed in a police coverup.
The first trial ended in a hung jury.
Loughran testified that he passed 34 Fairview Road around 2:45 a.m. the morning O’Keefe died, nearly two hours after Read is suspected of striking him.
“Now, as you’re passing 34 Fairview, could you see the area of the flagpole at 2:45 in the morning, sir?” defense attorney David Yannetti asked.
“Yes,” Loughran answered.
“What was on the ground on the Alberts’ lawn at that point, in the area of the flagpole?” Yannetti asked.
“Nothing,” Loughran said.
“Did you see a 6-foot-1, 260-pound man lying on that lawn?” Yannetti asked.
“No,” Loughran said.
The Department of Public Works employee said he sits high up in the plow truck, which is equipped with both headlights and extra lights on the fenders, so he claims his visibility was good.
“I can see right up to the front door,” he said.
But, Loughran admitted he hit a basketball hoop as he was plowing, and special prosecutor Hank Brennan wondered, if he was so observant, if Loughran saw a big dumpster on Fairview Road.
“I didn’t see a dumpster. That would have definitely stuck out,” he said.
However, the jury saw a dumpster in a police dash camera video.
Loughran said he noticed a Ford Edge parked in front of 34 Fairview Road, during his second pass. He said he took note because there was a parking ban in place due to the storm, and the Albert family never parked cars in the street.
“I notice that there’s a vehicle, on the righthand side, roughly in the area of the flagpole,” he said.
Brennan asked Loughran if he felt pressure from a blogger who supports Read’s freedom, as well as pictures shared online.
“I wouldn’t say embarrassing as much as aggravating,” Loughran said.
The prosecution also questioned Loughran on the accuracy of his memory from that morning, pointing out discrepancies in the time has has described seeing police officers responding to 34 Fairview Road later in his shift.
“That time of 5:30 is very different from the time you told the law enforcement officials that weren’t from Canton or the state police. That was very different than 3:00 to 3:30,” Brennan said.
“Very different,” Laughran said.
“And it’s different than the 3:30 to 4 timeline that you gave the defense private investigator the first time you spoke to them, correct?” Brennan asked.
“Correct,” Laughran said.
“And it’s different than what you told the jury today, that it was 6:50?” Brennan asked.
“It’s different,” Laughran said.
Laughran maintained that despite having mixed up certain details throughout his multiple testimonies, he is certain of the time that he made his first pass down Fairview Road.
A Canton woman who was at the Waterfall bar the night O’Keefe died testified Read and O’Keefe seemed close.
“Honestly I have never seen something like that before — a boyfriend do that to a girlfriend in public. It just stood out to me, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen,'” said witness Karina Kolokithas.
Yannetti had Kolokithas identify herself in black and white bar security footage, and also O’Keefe looking toward a group of men standing near the door, about to leave just before midnight.
At one point, Chris Albert is seen grabbing Brian Higgins’ arm, and seconds later, Higgins puts his own arms up, gesturing in O’Keefe’s direction.
Higgins, who testified in the first trial but not this one, had been flirting with Read. The jury heard testimony she went over to his home while she was seeing O’Keefe.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)