DAY 27: Karen Read Retrial
Is the snow plow driver an unreliable witness?
Hellooo.👋
Court was canceled for today due to extremely warm weather, so I took my time with this recap of yesterday’s testimony.
Not gonna lie guys…
Comparing the snowplow driver’s multiple statements over the years made my head spin a bit. Personally, I think he means well, but I also think his evolving recollections are a prime example of how nailing down exact details and timeframes of mundane events can be like trying to hold a slippery fish.
Let me know your thoughts!
ON THE STAND:
Brian Loughran, known as “Lucky” (Snow Plow Driver)
Karina Kolokithas (Karen Read and John O’Keefe’s friend)
Brian Loughran, “Lucky” (Snow Plow Driver)
Lucky was born and raised in the city of Canton.
Employed with the DPW (Department of Public Works) as a snow plow driver.
Lucky knows the Albert brothers who also grew up in the same town. He was closer to Chris Albert, but cordial with all the brothers.
He worked for Chris Albert’s pizza shop as a delivery driver years ago.
WORK SHIFT
On the early morning of 1/29/22, Lucky arrived for his shift around 2:15 am, and was on the road at about 2:20-2:25. He was responsible for “route 11”.
He drove what his company refers to as the “Franken-Truck”. Large truck with bright headlights. Lucky says he could “see as far as his eyes would let him see”. He states that as he drives, he looks left, right, and front, and can see “everything”. He scans for animals.
He plows the middle of roads first, pushes snow to the right of the road.
Lucky says that his route on Cedarcrest is about 1.5 miles long. It takes about 10 min to reach the cross street of Fairview Road. When he encounters the cross street, he passes by Fairview on left, continues down Cedarcrest and then turns around and comes back. Makes right onto Fairview.
First encounters Fairview Rd at about 2:40-2:45am. No memory if street lamps were working that night. No memory if the Albert house lights were on.
Lucky says he could see all the way to the Albert’s front door. He did not see a man on the lawn.
After driving by, he makes a left on Chapman, circles around, and then comes back up Fairview.
Takes 5-10 minutes to get down Fairview, and 5-10 min on Chapman to come back. Says he saw no body.
He heads onto Spring Lane (plows top and bottom). Comes back to Fairview for 2nd time about 45 min later. Lucky says his second pass was at 3:30 am. He did not make a left at that point onto Fairview. He continued all the way again on Cedarcrest and turned around.
Makes right on Fairview again. Snowing fairly hard at this point. Notices a vehicle parked on right-hand side in area near-ish flag pole. It was not common to see a vehicle there. Lucky says it was a Ford Edge. The vehicle was parked nose up toward Chapman Street.
Lucky says he had to plow around the vehicle twice. Once down the road, once up the road. Saw no body on the lawn.
Drove to Cedarcrest again and did more of his route which took about 3 full hours. Arrived back at Fairview around 6:15 from Chapman. First responder lights came from behind him forcing him to pull over. He turned down a small side street off of Fairview, made a u-turn, and turned left back down Fairview (away from the emergency scene because it was blocked off).
CROSS EXAMINATION —
DISCREPANCIES:
Lucky confirms that his memory is very strong and that his testimony has never changed over the years, yet Prosecutor Brennan challenges him on that by reviewing past statements he’s made.
Lucky first interviewed with the defense team’s private investigator about 2 weeks after John passed away in 2022. He was later interviewed in 2023 by federal agents, and then testified in the first trial in 2024, as well as in this trial today.
Prosecutor Brennan points out discrepacies on the times that Lucky has said things occurred, as well as the route taken when comparing all his past statements.
In one interview, Lucky generalized that he made “two or three” passes down Fairview Road that night, but in other interviews he confidently made three passes.
The times that Lucky recalls driving down certain streets, and even the path of his routes that morning are different over the years. In one interview he sees the random Ford Edge when looking down Fairview as he was plowing Cedarcrest Rd. This trial he recalls seeing the car when plowing Fairview, and even says he drove by it twice. Last trial it was once.
Brennan points out that in the interview report with the federal agents he said his shift began at midnight and recalls emergency vehicles at 3:30 am. However in another interview he saw emergency vehicles at 5:30am, and then that time later became 6:15 am. Lucky states that his math was wrong when calculating time at one point. He denies telling the agents he started work at midnight.
The affidavit from the PI interview states that Lucky recalls his first pass when coming from Chapman Street while another interview it was from Cedarcrest Road.
While on direct, Lucky said at about 6:15 am he was on Chapman street and briefly turned onto Fairview Road when an emergency vehicle from behind him passed by. Lucky says he pulled onto a side road, turned around, and headed back to Chapman. Brennan shows dash-cam footage from a police cruiser of Lucky being on the opposite road of Fairview (Cedarcrest Rd) and going in the opposite direction at 6:19 am.
Lucky agrees that he is making his best guesses at the timeframe of events because he was not focused on the clock, but he’s also a bit stubborn in acknowledging the clear discrepancies.
Prosecutor Brennan asks Lucky what he means when he says he could see as far as his eyes let him. Lucky responds that as long as his eyes are open, he can see as far as they will let him see.
Brennan asks Lucky if he’s so confident that he is aware of all things when driving, then what neigbbor had a large dumpster in front of it? Lucky says he can’t recall a dumpster and that if there was one it would definitely have stuck out.
Brennan pulls up a screenshot of Fairview from that morning (police cruiser camera), and shows him a large dumpster across the street on the neighbor’s driveway.
Brennan points out that on that same shift Lucky hit a basketball hoop with the snow plow. Lucky responds yes. He saw it, but he misjudged the distance of it.
PUBLIC PRESSURE ————
Brennan asks if Lucky is aware he was being threatened online by a specific blogger. Lucky says no.
Lucky agrees he received a call from the blogger once, but he was not aware he was bring recorded. Lucky says he is aware the content of that conversation was spread around online.
He concedes that his friends told him about what was being said about him online.
The attention in general was aggravating for him. It use to be worse, but has eased up. Lucky admits he is a follower of the blog.
Lucky agrees that he was being celebrated by a group of people who sided with the defense team. He found it to be encouraging, but he didn’t want it. He took photos with that group of people and didn’t want to cause any confrontation.
(The “blogger”, Aidan Kearney, was in the courtroom during Lucky’s testimony. I question if this had any impact on Lucky being transparent about the threats made towards him.)
Karina Kolokithas (Karen Read and John O’Keefe’s friend)
Karina took the stand briefly.
She was at the Waterfall Bar & Grill with the group on 1/29/22. Was going to leave, but when John and Karen showed up she decided to stay.
She hung out with Karen most of the time. Karen asked her about her daughter.
At one point, John kissed Karen on the forehead and Karina says it was the “sweetest thing” she’s ever seen.
Defense asks Karina to point out people on the security footage from the bar that night. She is asked what direction Higgins is facing while waving in a “let’s go” type motion. He is near the door and facing in the direction of the bar. The footage is grainy and many people are moving around in it.
Karen did not appear intoxicated, but Karina did see her drinking a clear liquid cocktail.
Prosecutor asks her if John was in a good mood at the bar, she said yes. He was very proud that his niece had just been accepted into a particular private school.
As everyone began leaving, Jen McCabe put her arm around Karen and said ‘you’re coming with me’. The moment stood out to Karina as unusual.
Thanks Tuesday on Thursday. I loved your slippery fish analogy-it is so true! Can't wait until this is all over and hope she is held accountable. As for the disturbing aspects of this case, I hope to be involved in helping to turn the tides in some way. Hope to stay in touch with you! :)