You Can't Say the Disgraced Cops in the Karen Read Case Got a Slap on the Wrist. That Would Be an Insult to Wrist Slaps.

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

The aspect of the Commonwealth vs. Karen Read murder trial that can't be overstated is that the problems with the case never seemed like the result of incompetence. It felt like complicity. Which is infinitely worse. 

Fair or unfair, that was the general public perception from the beginning of the trial. Which is only reasonable when all the "mistakes" all seemed to break in one direction. Against the defendant and towards her guilt. When an umpire's strike zone keeps shrinking to the size of an UNO card every time one team is at bat, it becomes hard to believe the game isn't rigged. 

That's how it seemed with the investigation led by Mass. State Trooper Michael Proctor. If it was just shoddy police work, sloppy evidence gathering, and halfassed forensics work, the whole affair wouldn't have generated nearly as much heat as it did. Once so many Massholes started to detect the patterns though, this thing burned like a supernova:

--The lack of curiosity from police at the crime scene about anyone inside the house.

--The lack of curiosity inside the house about anything the police were doing at the crime scene.

--Blood samples collected in red Solo cups and kept inside a grocery bag.

--The sudden and inexplicable butt dial epidemic.

--The video from inside the Canton Police garage without the jury being told it was.

--Two different police officers destroying their phones on the day before they were going to be ordered to preserve them.

This was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. And this list is just skimming the surface of the surface. This rabbit hole of sketchy police work went a lot deeper. Down the molten core of Massachusetts law enforcement. And a lot of it was obscured by the biggest, most egregious reveal from the trial. Proctor's conduct throughout the investigation:

Specifically, how the lead detective looking into the homicide of a Boston Police officer was texting to his colleagues about the "leaky balloon knot" that "leaks poo" of the "cunt" who has "no ass" but he was looking for nudes of her on her phone anyway. 

Then there was the part of the trial where it was revealed that Proctor had recently been out on a night of boozing with Kevin Albert. And based on their texts, Albert lost his badge and gun.

For his trouble, Proctor has been put on "administrative leave." Otherwise known as desk duty. Or what cops call "The Rubber Gun Club." But he wasn't texting that stuff to himself. And Albert is the one who got so blackout drunk he couldn't find the two items taxpayers bought him that give him the power to arrest and/or shoot us. 

So we've been waiting to see what's going to become of the other cops who were implicated in Proctor's testimony. And the answer is the most Massachusetts thing you'll ever hear:

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Source - State Police Sergeant Yuri Bukhenik, who was one of the lead investigators in John O'Keefe's death, forfeited five vacation days following an internal affairs investigation. …

The investigation was prompted because of State Trooper Michael Proctor's text messages about Karen Read, in which he referred to her as derogatory terms and said he hoped she'd commit suicide.

Those texts were sent to family, friends, and coworkers, Proctor testified. Proctor is on leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation.

Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, who worked with Proctor on the investigation into John O'Keefe's death, was in one of the group chats in which Proctor sent the inappropriate text messages.

Same source - Canton Police detective Kevin Albert was suspended without pay for three eight-hour shifts following an internal investigation into his conduct.

Kevin Albert is the brother of Brian Albert, the homeowner at 34 Fairview Road at the time that Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe's body was found on the front lawn in January 2022. Albert was not a detective on the case.  …

However, the report exonerated Albert of criminal conduct or misuse of his firearm. Despite texts to Proctor about wondering if he left his gun in Proctor's cruiser, Albert told investigators he was only joking and that he had properly returned his gun to Canton Police that evening after a trip to Tree House Brewing, dinner, and some drinks with Proctor while on a trip to Sandwich for a cold case investigation. …

He is now back on the job.

Far be it for anyone who's been following this case to question a local police investigation of local police, in a case where local police are suspected of covering for local police, who were possibly involved in the killing of a local police officer. But Turtleboy for one is reporting that this wasn't the most aggressive matter internal affairs ever conducted:

Whatever the details, we've learned two things here:

1. If you're lol-ing with your co-worker while he's talking vile shit about a woman he's investigating for the murder of a police officer, you lose five vacation days. Not days. Not five days' pay. Five theoretical days off. I put it that way because so many state and local workers have vacation time they'll never use. When I retired from the courts, I had a couple of months worth. Which the state bought back from me at like 20%. So Bukhenik will likely never notice those days are gone off the books. 

2. If you go on a bender while on duty, and text your drinking buddy that you can't find your firearm while hungover in the morning, you get the benefit of the doubt. Your boss will buy your alibi that it was all just a Super Troopers-like gag you were pulling. And let bygones be bygones on the whole shitfaced-on-the-job thing. It'll cost you three shifts, but you'll be back at the station house before anybody knows you were gone. 

Whatever else this case has done, it's shown the world how things function in Massachusetts government. That's not worth the death of John O'Keefe. But it's not nothing, either.