Massachusetts
Karen Read files lawsuit against Massachusetts State Police and Canton Police
(WJAR) — Karen Read has filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts State Police Department and the Canton Police Department.
The Bristol County woman was acquitted last year of the murder of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
Her lawsuit accuses both departments of trying to conceal “an imbedded culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations.”
Read weeps as the final verdict of not guilty of second-degree murder is read in Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
The lawsuit blames the culture of both departments for violating her constitutional rights and caused her immense harm, according to the lawsuit.
The court documents mentions MSP Detective Michael Proctor and CPD Sergeant Sean Goode’s recorded messages as examples that they were “virulent bigots whose hatred for anyone and everyone different from themselves permeates their every actions.”
The lawsuit says the officers were not fit to hold their role and investigate a homicide investigation against Karen Read.
Those investigators and their colleagues conducted a “fundamentally conflicted and corrupt investigation” against her.
Read is seeking an award for her damages.
The full lawsuit can be read above.