Solo cups and leaf blowers

An emergency physician at Brockton Hospital sitting on the Canton Police Audit Committee says he sees no problem with officers who used red Solo plastic cups to collect evidence the morning of John O’Keefe’s death.

Daniel Muse, a Canton resident since 1995, has asserted that he doesn’t see how the police department’s use of the Solo cups and a leaf blower during evidence collection in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2022, has made the town a “national laughing stock.”

The comments came during an explosive, tension-filled meeting Thursday night, the first time the committee had convened since June. Bids for the independent audit of the department are due by Sept. 30.

“The Solo cup and the leafblower, what is it about that? It keeps coming up at these meetings,” Muse asked member Kathleen Howley, who spearheaded a petition that led to a special Town Meeting last November when residents voted 903-800 in favor of the $200,000 audit.

Howley emphasized to the five-person committee that the independent audit’s initial purpose was to review “compliance to policies and procedures.”

“There’s no policy or procedure in the world that says bring a leafblower to a murder scene,” Howley said. “It made us a national laughing stock.”

Muse asked “How?” with Howley responding “If I have to explain that then let’s just move on.”

“Please do because quite frankly it can also be looked at as ingenious,” Muse said. He then asked, “How is that a problem?”

“Because they’re not sterile,” Howley said, “because they don’t have a top, because they were placed in a used Stop & Shop bag that could have had ham juice or roast beef juice. I don’t understand why that’s not understandable.”

“Because I’m not sure why it had to be sterile,” Muse said at the end of the exchange.

Canton Police Lt. Paul Gallagher, the senior who oversaw scene operations at 34 Fairview Road the morning O’Keefe died, testified at trial in May that he chose to use a leaf blower to combat the falling snow and remove layers of it to get to any evidence below.

Gallagher said he saw pink droplets that became redder as he removed more snow — O’Keefe’s blood.  Because he didn’t have any actual evidence collection tools, Gallagher retrieved a set of red SOLO plastic cups — from a sealed bag, he stressed — from the home of a fellow officer who lived nearby.

Gallagher collected the red snow in the cups, where it would thaw into a bloody mix. Those cups then at some point were collected into a Stop & Shop grocery bag.

Prosecutors say Karen Read, 44, struck John O’Keefe, a 16-year Boston Police officer, and her boyfriend of two years, with her SUV following a drunken argument and left him to die in a snowstorm in front of 34 Fairview.

O’Keefe died at the age of 46.

Defense attorneys counter that outside actors killed O’Keefe and conspired with state and local police to frame Read for his murder.

Read is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. A second trial is scheduled for late January after the first resulted in a mistrial, in July.

The division that continues to reverberate in the Greater Boston community led to the police audit, which residents told the Herald in August is an essential step towards healing.

But tension remained as high as ever Thursday night, with members clashing with each other and residents who attended the meeting at Town Hall as the committee reviewed the RFP’s scope and services as well as questions and answers.

Howley and Chairman Bob McCarthy accused each other of being biased. Members argued over the $200,000 cost for the audit, with Howley and member David Clough saying it wouldn’t be enough to attract a “national firm” while McCarthy shunned that thought.

“You’re worried about a couple hundred thousand dollars to restore trust in our community,” Clough said. McCarthy responded, “If we have a bid that comes in excess of the money availability, we cannot sign a contract. It’s a dead issue.”

A scuffle ensued when Clough tried to read a document from the Finance Department but had trouble due to its small font, saying he thought it was “done intentionally.”

Finance Director Randy Scollins, sitting with the public, took exception to the comment before resident Rita Lombardi started to speak. McCarthy then “reprimanded” Lombardi immediately but not Scollins.

McCarthy tried to quickly motion votes and get them accepted without discussion, catching Howley and Clough off-guard after a five-minute break meant to “cool the temperature of the room.” Clough called the actions a violation of open meeting law.

“You are obstructing the cover of murderers in this town. All three of you,” Clough told McCarthy, Muse and member John Kelly.

“How dare you even say that,” Muse told Clough. “You do not know if they were murderers. … They are innocent until proven guilty.”

The confrontation between McCarthy and Lombardi continued, with Lombardi telling the chairman to call the police on her.  “I would love to,” McCarthy said.

“I’m tired of this,” Lombardi said. “We come here, and we try to work with you but all you are doing is yelling at people.”

The committee is looking to select a firm by the end of October, to start the audit in November. A final report and presentation are scheduled to be submitted and made next spring.

Some community members believe that won’t be enough time, especially at the $200,000, for a thorough audit.

“Why are we wasting more time to send something out that we know is going to get kicked back? It makes no sense,” resident Jennifer O’Donnell told the board. “Red Solo cups being an issue? … It’s an embarrassment.”

The Sandra Birchmore case has also further broadened the need for Canton Police to be audited, community members say.

Canton Police found Birchmore’s body in her Canton apartment during a wellness check in February 2021, shortly after former Stoughton Police Det. Matthew Farwell allegedly murdered the 23-year-old, who was pregnant with Farwell’s unborn child, and staged her residence to make it appear she committed suicide.