A mistrial was declared for Karen Read, who was accused of killing her police officer boyfriend. Now his family is suing her
By Jean Casarez, CNN
(CNN) — A wrongful death civil suit filed this month in a Massachusetts court by the estate and family of deceased Boston police officer John O’Keefe alleges his then-girlfriend Karen Read caused his death more than two years ago by “driving drunk … in an unsafe manner.”
The suit alleges Read was grossly negligent, and that as a result, O’Keefe “sustained serious injuries of body and mind,” pain and suffering along with “fear of impending death, lost earnings, medical, funeral and burial expenses,” and died.
The lawsuit, filed in Plymouth County Superior Court, comes after Read’s criminal trial ended in July without a jury able to reach a unanimous verdict on murder and other charges. A Norfolk County Superior Court judge declared a mistrial and a second trial is set to begin in January.
The wrongful death suit also names as defendants two Canton, Massachusetts, bars – CF McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar and Grille – alleging they negligently sold alcohol to Read in the hours or minutes before the injuries that led to O’Keefe’s death.
Read has been accused of drunkenly driving into O’Keefe and leaving him to die on a snowy night in January 2022 outside a home in Canton, where a party with other off-duty officers was held. She had pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision.
CNN is trying to determine the names of the attorneys who will handle her civil case and reach out to them for comment. CNN also has sought comment from both bars.
The criminal case against Read had divided a Massachusetts community amid allegations of a sweeping cover-up by police and investigative misconduct. Read’s attorneys have alleged Read was framed and O’Keefe was beaten by people inside the house and taken outside where he died.
Family claims Read started arguments and was jealous
O’Keefe’s family claims in its filing that in the weeks and days leading up to his death on January 29, 2022, the relationship between him and Read was deteriorating.
“Read picked fights, experienced jealousy and had delusions of unfaithfulness,” the lawsuit says. “On or about January 28, 2022, defendant Read knew that her relationship with (O’Keefe) had run its course.”
Read and O’Keefe were at CF McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton on the night of January 28, 2022, according to the suit. The complaint alleges that McCarthy’s served Read seven alcoholic drinks between 8:58 p.m. and 10:29 p.m. and that Read showed signs of intoxication. Read left with a drink from McCarthy’s, according to the court document.
The suit states that when Read then went to the second bar, she walked in with that drink from McCarthy’s and also showed signs of intoxication. Read had one alcohol shot and one mixed drink at Waterfall, the lawsuit alleges.
Read and O’Keefe left Waterfall within a minute of each other shorty after midnight on January 29, 2022, and Read drove O’Keefe to the Canton home that was hosting the party, according to the suit. “Defendant Read was under the influence of alcohol and unable to drive a motor vehicle safely,” the court document claims.
It also alleges Read and O’Keefe had argued that night, and that after they arrived to the home of the party and O’Keefe got out of Read’s vehicle, Read drove her SUV and hit her boyfriend – knocking him to the ground in front of the home – and left the scene.
She did this knowing that it was snowing and that “there was an impending blizzard,” and should have known that leaving O’Keefe “outside in the blizzard would likely result in serious injury or death,” the lawsuit says.
About 4:30 that morning, Read knew she had hit her boyfriend with her SUV and woke up O’Keefe’s 14-year-old niece talking about the death, the lawsuit says.
Following that, Read went back to the house hosting the party, already knowing O’Keefe was “seriously injured, buried in the snow and laying on the ground,” where Read left O’Keefe “to die hours earlier.”
The estate and O’Keefe’s family are asking for compensatory and punitive damages.
The complaint also alleges negligent infliction of emotional stress.
Paul O’Keefe, John O’Keefe’s brother, is suing as a representative of the estate and in an individual capacity. He is joined in the action by John’s father and mother.
The suit alleges the bars were negligent in their service of alcohol to Read because they “knew or should have known that … Read was intoxicated” when she was served.
Prosecutors had said the couple argued and she backed over him
Ahead of the criminal trial a few months ago, court documents filed in the case described the events leading to O’Keefe’s death this way: On the night of January 28, 2022, Read and O’Keefe went out drinking at two bars with friends, and shortly after midnight, the couple climbed into Read’s SUV and drove to the home of one of O’Keefe’s fellow Boston police officers for an after-party.
In the morning, O’Keefe’s body was found bruised and battered in the snow outside the home, authorities said. Prosecutors have alleged Read and O’Keefe got into an argument that night, and that she drunkenly backed into him with a vehicle and fled the scene, leaving him to die in the cold.
“What the constellation of the facts and the evidence ineluctably demonstrate here is that the defendant drove her vehicle in reverse at 24.2 miles per hour for 62.5 feet, struck Mr. O’Keefe, causing those catastrophic head injuries, leaving him incapacitated and freezing him to death,” Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said in closing arguments of the criminal trial in late June.
In contrast, Read’s defense during the trial accused off-duty police inside the home of fatally beating O’Keefe, dumping his body on the lawn and then conspiring through fabricated evidence and false testimony to frame Read.
“Ladies and gentlemen, there was a cover-up in this case, plain and simple,” Alan Jackson, who represented Read during her criminal trial, said. “You’ll surely say to yourself, ‘I don’t want to believe it, I don’t want to believe that could happen in our community,’ but sadly over these past eight weeks you’ve seen it right before your eyes.”
CNN’s Dakin Andone and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
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