Expert's Testimony After Examining Black Box of Luxury SUV: Throttle Hit 74% Right Before Police Officer's Final Movements
In the ongoing retrial of Karen Read, accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, a key witness for the prosecution provided detailed testimony about the events surrounding his death.
Read, a 45-year-old former adjunct professor, is charged with second degree murder after allegedly striking O’Keefe in a driveway on Jan. 29, 2022 while drunk driving her 2021 Lexus SUV in a fit of anger.
O’Keefe was downed during a snowstorm, and succumbed to his injuries and the elements.
WCVB reported that Judson Welcher, an accident reconstructionist and key witness for the prosecution, was called to testify Tuesday.
Welcher presented his findings at the trial, focusing on a physical reconstruction of the accident and data from the luxury SUV’s black box.
The expert revealed that he purchased a Lexus identical to Read’s SUV. He conducted experiments, including one where he applied paint to the vehicle to determine where it might contact and produce injuries.
Welcher discovered he is O’Keefe’s height and used himself in the tests. He found a mark on his arm consistent with lacerations on O’Keefe’s forearm. A scuff on the victim’s hip also matched.
The expert witness said the black box data pulled from Read’s Lexus did not register a collision, admitting this is what he expected as the system is only designed to record vehicle-on-vehicle accidents.
After synchronizing the time on Read’s SUV to real-world time, Welcher discovered that the Lexus was started shortly after midnight and suffered a significant trigger event 19 minutes later. The event recorded rapid acceleration and a reverse maneuver, topping out at 23 mph. The throttle hit 74 percent during the event, Welcher testified.
Welcher was able to correlate this with data from O’Keefe’s phone.
He found the erratic movement from Read’s vehicle matched the time of O’Keefe’s final interaction with his phone.
The expert also examined surveillance footage of the event, showing Read’s SUV leaving the driveway before his body was later discovered there covered in snow.
“I hate to see any party get hurt, but this was a bad day for Ms. Read,” retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Jack Lu said to Fox News Digital.
“She [was] driving a very high-end luxury Lexus SUV and pushed the throttle beyond 70 percent with no braking,” he continued. “That Lexus SUV must have taken off like a SpaceX rocket ship. That is the nature of the beast — very bad look for Ms. Read.”
The defense raised questions about Welcher’s changes to his own report and communications between the expert and the prosecution.
Read’s defense has also focused on allegations that O’Keefe’s death was not the result of her drunk driving, but rather the result of a dog attack, an attack and cover-up by multiple law enforcement agencies, or some combination of the two.
Read could face life in prison if convicted.
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