Karen Read is speaking out after filing a lawsuit against the Massachusetts State Police and Canton Police Department, the two agencies that investigated her in connection with the death of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe — a case she was ultimately acquitted of in 2025.
Read appeared on the Today show on June 5, 2026, alongside her attorney, Alan Jackson, to outline what she hopes to achieve through the civil action. According to Jackson, the goal goes far beyond a financial payout.
“What Karen wants, you cannot write on a check, which is exposure,” Jackson said. “Exposure of the corruption that is the DNA of the Massachusetts State Police and the Canton Police Department.”
The lawsuit, filed in Bristol Superior Court on June 4, 2026, alleges that Read’s two trials revealed “an (embedded) culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations.”
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As she continues to make headlines for her lawsuit, Us Weekly breaks down what to know about Read.
Who Is Karen Read?
Read previously worked as a financial analyst and an adjunct professor of finance at Bentley University before she gained national attention when she was accused of second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection to O’Keefe’s death.
Karen Read Was Acquitted of John O’Keefe’s Death
O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, died of blunt force trauma to the head after he was found mortally wounded on the lawn of now-retired Boston police sergeant Brian Albert on January 29, 2022.
Prosecutors accused Read of driving her SUV into O’Keefe, 46, while intoxicated and leaving him to die in a blizzard. She denied the allegations and maintained her innocence throughout.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. Her first trial ended in a mistrial in 2024 after the jury deadlocked. When she was retried in 2025, a jury found her not guilty of the most serious charges, convicting her only of the lesser offense of driving while intoxicated.
In her Today show appearance, Read explained why she felt she could not simply move on after her acquittal.
“This was always our plan, that I had to save my own life first,” she said. “I can’t do anything if I’m not free. I had to fight for my freedom for years, and I knew as it unfolded I was never going to be able to just forget that this happened to me, that I was wronged in this way. I couldn’t just go back to life as it was. I have to continue fighting for justice.”
Read added that her “acquittal is deserved, but the wrongs have not been completely righted.”
“They have been happening along the way, but I always knew this was going to happen if I could get the help legally to do this,” she said.
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Karen Read’s Lawsuit Details Disturbing Texts From Michael Proctor and Sean Goode
A major component of Read’s civil filing centers on alleged text messages exchanged between former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor — who served as lead investigator in O’Keefe’s death — and former Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode. Neither has been named as a defendant, and both have since left their departments.
Proctor was fired by the State Police in March 2025, partially due to messages he sent about Read that surfaced during her first trial in April 2024. One of those texts revealed Proctor saying he hoped Read would “kill herself.” Goode resigned on June 2, 2026, amid an internal investigation into the dozens of messages he and Proctor allegedly exchanged dating back to 2013, according to CBS News.
The text messages were obtained as part of the unrelated prosecution of Myles King, who has been accused of killing Marquis Simmons in 2021. Proctor’s personal phone was searched as part of that murder trial because he was the lead investigator on the case. Although the phone was under a protective order, Read’s attorneys received permission to use the findings in litigation against the two departments.
According to Read’s complaint, Proctor allegedly told Goode about a car crash in Canton: “Actually, take your time, I saw a [n*****] was involved, so I wouldn’t rush if you’re working. Let them die.”
Read’s attorneys also claim Proctor wrote, “It should be ‘punch a [n*****] day’ in canton today out of retribution. Any shine u see blast it in the face.” A subsequent alleged message read, “America sucks …. Hitler was really on to something then the [f******] US has to step in and ruin it.”
How Massachusetts State Police and Canton Police Responded to Karen Read’s lawsuit
The Massachusetts State Police addressed the messages directly in a statement to Us.
“These disturbing messages are entirely inconsistent with any basic standard of decency and certainly with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper. These racist, sexist and abhorrent comments absolutely do not reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are not tolerated within our ranks. They underscore and fully support my decision to terminate Michael Proctor,” Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble said.
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He continued, “As Superintendent, my role requires me to act in the best interest of the Department. In this moment, that means moving forward with a focus on upholding our standards, strengthening accountability, and supporting the honorable women and men of the State Police who serve our communities with professionalism and integrity. We do so keenly aware of the ways in which this misconduct harmed the public trust on which our mission depends.”
The Canton Police Department posted a statement on its Facebook page on June 4, 2026, saying the town “has not been served.”
“As such we have nothing to review with legal counsel at this time. We have no comment on the press release issued by the Read legal team,” the department added.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
