Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox says he “didn’t know” that one in every of his officers was related to the Karen Learn case, contradicting his subordinate, who testified within the retrial that he informed her to “tell the truth up here.”
Cox is going through warmth from followers of the case after he informed reporters that he has “nothing to do with Karen Read,” denying accusations from the protection that he influenced Officer Kelly Dever’s testimony.
Dever was working as a patrol officer in Canton when Learn’s Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, died within the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022, earlier than she joined the BPD. Cox has led the division since August 2022.
Throughout her direct examination within the retrial, Dever testified that Cox referred to as her into his workplace and that the commissioner informed her the division would assist her and to inform the reality.
“It was a reflection of how good of a leader he is,” Dever stated of Cox. “It was not anything that I found unusual, given the fact that he is someone who wanted to show support for his officer.”
Cox broke his silence on the difficulty on Thursday as he responded to questions on Dever’s testimony from the media. He identified how he was in Michigan, working as chief of the Ann Arbor Police Division, on the time of O’Keefe’s loss of life.
“As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know this person was associated with the Karen Read case,” Cox stated of Dever. “You recognize, I’ve a company filled with over 3,000 individuals, and we assist all our people.
“And the reality is that I get information passed on, whether those people are high or low, and I encourage everyone,” he added. “And if you’re going to work here and you belong here, then we’re going to encourage you. I have no idea what they’re talking about with Karen Read.”
Retired New York Police Division detectives Ron Licciardi and Ed Wallace addressed Cox’s remarks throughout their podcast on YouTube Thursday evening. The episode has drawn over 100,000 views.
“He totally stepped on his you know what,” Licciardi stated of Cox. “These questions were peppered at him at a fast rate, and he rolls his eyes, he makes faces … He was making this like it was a joke.”
Wallace added: “It’s all (expletive). We know it’s all (expletive). But that’s because they have been empowered to think that they are untouchable.”
Protection legal professional Alan Jackson introduced Dever to the stand, questioning her over how she initially informed federal investigators that she noticed witness Brian Higgins and then-Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz enter the police division storage and spend a “wildly long time” with Learn’s SUV. This gave credence to the protection’s idea that police meddled with the proof, together with the busted taillight whose items have been later discovered on the crime scene.
Dever stated she later recanted this assertion as a “false memory” after being proven a timeline of occasions that proved that it wasn’t attainable.
Dever’s testimony was very tense, with Jackson asking her at one level whether or not she even needed to be there.
“I am put on the stand in a murder trial. I don’t know why I’m here. I have no connection to this case,” Dever answered. She testified that she and Cox didn’t talk about “anything malicious” when she met with the commissioner.
“He just wanted me to tell the truth up here,” Dever recounted of the dialog.
Cox stated it got here as a shock when he heard his identify being talked about within the case.
“I was struck, like, ‘What do I have to do with the Karen Read case?’” he stated. “And so the fact is, it’s much ado about nothing. We have employees here that we have to develop and encourage and do things, and I do that for tons of our employees.”
Learn, 45, had confronted as much as life in jail if convicted of second-degree homicide, the top-level offense charged towards her. She was additionally charged with manslaughter whereas working a motorized vehicle below the affect of liquor and leaving the scene of an accident leading to loss of life.
Prosecutors accused Learn of backing up into O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years, together with her SUV, leaving him to freeze and die on the entrance yard of a Canton house the place the pair was imagined to proceed an evening out after the bars closed, within the early snowy morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
However the jury didn’t purchase the argument, charging Learn with simply drunken driving.
In an interview with the Herald’s Howie Carr final month, Prado referred to as Dever not plausible in any respect.
“It was uncomfortable to watch her behavior because she is an officer after all, and she is among us, and she carries a gun,” Prado stated of Dever. “She was not reliable and scary, knowing that she’s around holding a weapon.”
Dever is on household medical depart from the division, a spokesperson informed the Herald.
