Karen Read told to ‘calm down, stop talking’ after saying ‘I hit him’ following Boston cop boyfriend’s death

A second witness heard Karen Read admit “I hit him” the morning her Boston cop boyfriend was found dead in the snow, jurors heard on Monday.

One of Read’s friends — who later became her most controversial accuser — was also overheard telling Read to “calm down, you’re hysterical,” following the admission, Katie McLaughlin, a firefighter and EMT in Canton, Mass. testified.

McLaughlin said that on Jan. 29, 2022 she was called to the scene of a man in the snow – who turned out to be Police Officer John O’Keefe, 45, and Read’s boyfriend.

The testimony comes at Read’s re-trial in Dedham, Mass. outside Boston after her first case ended in a hung jury last year.

McLaughlin, 29, said she approached Read and Jennifer McCabe asking “if there had been any significant trauma that happened that preceded this.”

Read, 45, responded by repeating: “I hit him, I hit him,” the firefighter said.

“There was a woman next to us who told her to calm down,” McLaughlin said of McCabe. “‘Stop talking, calm down, you’re hysterical.’ She repeated, ‘I hit him.’”

McLaughlin said a cop asked Read, “You what?” prompting her to blurt out again, “I hit him.”

McLaughlin said she didn’t ask more questions because she didn’t feel it was her place since she wasn’t a police officer but she recounted what she heard to other cops at the scene.

Last week, jurors heard very similar testimony from McCabe, who was a friend of O’Keefe’s that went to find him with Read and another woman the morning after Read and O’Keefe had been out drinking.

McCabe said after Read found O’Keefe’s body in the snow she hysterically blabbed to first responders, “I hit him, I hit him.”

McCabe told the jury she tried to intervene and stop Read from saying anything else because, “I thought she was talking crazy.”

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Prosecutors claim that Read drove O’Keefe to his friend Brian Albert’s Canton home after a heavy night of drinking at the bar and then backed into him, leaving him to die as a snow storm was rolling in.

But Read’s team has maintained her innocence and claimed she is a victim of a sweeping law enforcement cover-up. The defense has said after Read dropped off O’Keefe at Albert’s party he died after getting into a fight with his cop buddies.

The defense has also claimed McCabe – the sister-in-law of Albert – played an integral role in framing Read.

On cross-examination by Read’s lawyers, McClaughlin has been grilled about the fact she knew Caitlin Albert – Brian Albert’s daughter – from school, insinuating she hid her connection to the house where O’Keefe was found outside for potentially nefarious reasons.

Read went on trial in the same case last year but it ended in mistrial after the jury said it was deadlocked. McCabe and McLaughlin both gave similar testimony at the first trial.