Karen Read, who was acquitted of murder but found guilty of drunken driving in the death of her boyfriend Boston police officer John O'Keefe, has now filed a civil lawsuit alleging that O'Keefe's true killers are still at large and accusing Massachusetts law enforcement of a conspiracy to frame her for the crime. According to a WCVB report, Read's suit claims O'Keefe died at a party in Canton, not from being hit by her SUV, and accuses several individuals and Massachusetts State Police troopers of a cover-up.
The lawsuit, filed in Taunton's Bristol Superior Court, is a 46-page document that includes allegations of evidence tampering, bias, misconduct, and the destruction of evidence. A statement shared with Boston 25 News by Alan Jackson, Read's attorney, stated, "For more than three years, Karen Read was dragged through a baseless criminal prosecution engineered by individuals who abused their authority, manipulated the investigative process, and trampled her rights." The defendants include former MSP trooper Michael Proctor, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, Lt. Brian Tully, and several Canton-area residents.
The complaint by Read points to severe personal consequences she has faced, including the loss of her job, home, and health insurance, along with millions in legal fees and exacerbated chronic illnesses due to the stress. She is seeking damages under the Federal Civil Rights Law, Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, and common law claims such as malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Defendants named in the suit have yet to respond to the allegations, but lawyers for some Canton-area residents involved have already denied the claims, calling them "entirely false, defamatory, and without merit," as noted by Boston 25 News.
Read asserts that O'Keefe died inside the Alberts' home after a late-night party and that the scene was staged to look like a hit-and-run accident. Her lawsuit also alleges that there was a Google search for how long to "die in the cold" before moving O'Keefe's body outside. Jackson, in his statement, emphasized, "This time the defendants don’t get to hide behind badges, back-channel favors, or manufactured narratives," as reported by Boston 25 News. Additionally, the suit intimates that Proctor had a personal connection with the Albert family and overlooked crucial evidence due to this alleged bias.
Amidst Read's fight to clear her name, there are reports that the individuals she has accused are planning to sue her for defamation. They claim she has spun "a vile work of fiction," as per legal briefs obtained by WCVB. Despite these threatened counter-lawsuits, Jackson insists that "Accountability is coming—and these defendants can threaten all the phantom lawsuits they want, but the truth doesn’t flinch." Read's legal team says they plan to consolidate this case with a related wrongful death suit for efficiency, as indicated in previous court records.
