O’Keefe family files wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read for ‘reckless conduct’
The family of late Boston Police officer John O'Keefe filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read, who's murder case resulted in a mistrial.
Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman who was accused of killing her police officer boyfriend with a vehicle in January 2022, faces a wrongful death lawsuit filed against her on Monday by the family of the victim.
Paul O’Keefe, the brother of late Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the O’Keefe family in Plymouth Superior Court.
Named alongside Read are the two bars the couple consumed drinks at before O’Keefe’s body was found in a snowbank outside a Canton home.
Read’s trial ended in July after a Massachusetts jury was deadlocked for days and could not come to a unanimous decision about her innocence or guilt after 26 hours of deliberation.
O'Keefe's body was found in several inches of snow outside the home of Boston Police officer Brian Albert.
Prosecutors alleged Read purposely backed into him with her SUV during a booze-infused fight in January 2022 and let him die on the front lawn during a nor'easter.
Read claimed she was framed in an elaborate cover-up to protect the Alberts, an influential family with deep law enforcement ties.
She pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury and death.
An autopsy found O’Keefe died of blunt force trauma and hypothermia.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, which was obtained by FOX 25 in Boston, the O’Keefe family alleges Read "intended the reckless conduct," which ended in John’s death. The two bars named in the lawsuit, C.F. McCarthy’s and the Waterfall Bar & Grill, are accused by the family of negligently serving alcohol to an intoxicated person, or Read in this case, the family alleged.
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Additionally, the O’Keefes accuse Read of "intentionally and/or recklessly" inflicting "severe emotional distress" on John’s 14-year-old niece on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, when she informed the teenager "she hit her uncle or that a snow plow hit her uncle."
"Read’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency, and was utterly intolerable," the lawsuit read.
The O’Keefe family also accuses Read’s defense team of "outrageously" creating a "false narrative."
Earlier this month, Read was back in court for a hearing to discuss her defense team’s motion to dismiss the case.
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Attorney Martin Weinberg argued for Read in court on Friday. Attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti previously argued that two of three charges filed against Read, 44, including second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, should be dismissed following a mistrial in June.
Her lawyers told Judge Beverly J. Cannone that jurors reportedly agreed that Read was not guilty on two of the charges, and that another trial would subject Read to "double jeopardy."
Prosecutors plan to retry Read in January. Cannone heard arguments from both sides and said she would take them under advisement, without making a decision that day.
Jackson and Yannetti argued during the June trial that accusations against Read alleging she killed her boyfriend were part of an elaborate cover-up and frame job.
Specifically, Read's defense claimed the family who owned the home where O'Keefe was found dead in the snow on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, framed her for his death in an elaborate cover-up.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Eberhart, Audrey Conklin and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
