The family of Karen Read’s late boyfriend filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her this week, accusing her of leaving the Boston police officer to die in a snowstorm.
The parents, brother and niece of the late police officer John O’Keefe III accused 44-year-old Read of intentionally hitting him with her SUV while drunk and leaving him to die, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Plymouth Superior Court.
The lawsuit also accused two bars – CF McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar & Grille – of over-serving Read in the hours before O’Keefe’s death on January 29, 2022.
Read drank nine drinks as she and O’Keefe, 46, went from bar to bar at both locations on the evening of Jan. 28, the complaint states.
She was allegedly “under the influence of alcohol and unable to safely operate a motor vehicle” when she drove O’Keefe from Waterfall to another BPD officer’s house for an after-party.
At 12:45 a.m. on the 29th, Read’s blood alcohol content was between 0.135% and 0.292%, according to her blood test at a local medical center later that morning.
Read also allegedly knew that her two-year relationship with O’Keefe was in crisis and “started arguments, felt jealousy and had delusions of infidelity” in the months before the incident, the lawsuit says.
O’Keefe’s family accused Read of hitting him with her car and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
His death was confirmed a few hours later. The coroner stated the official cause of death as “blunt head injuries and hypothermia.”
Later that same day, Read allegedly visited O’Keefe’s family to comfort them and used the opportunity to remove her car and “relevant evidence” from the crime scene, the family claimed.
In addition to the “aggravated emotional distress” suffered by O’Keefe’s relatives during the ensuing investigation, the family also accused Read of inflicting emotional distress on the officer’s 14-year-old niece, who was in his care at the time of his death.
Read allegedly woke the teenager at 4:30 a.m. on the 29th and claimed O’Keefe had not returned home, the lawsuit says.
The young girl reportedly heard Read say, “Maybe I did something… Maybe he got hit by a snow plow… Maybe I hit him… Maybe I hit him… (we) had an argument… Maybe he got hit by a snow plow.”
She then allegedly left the teenager home alone while she returned to the after-party location to look for O’Keefe.
O’Keefe’s family is demanding at least $50,000 in damages.
The lawsuit comes nearly two months after Read’s murder trial ended without a jury agreement after five days of deliberations.
Throughout the sensational investigation, she vehemently protested her innocence and claimed that the Boston police authorities had made her a scapegoat.
Read’s lawyers sought to have two of the three charges against her dismissed on the grounds that some jurors had said they intended to acquit her of the charge of first-degree murder.
Norfolk County Judge Beverly Cannone ruled last week that both charges – second-degree murder and hit-and-run – would stand at the second trial because Read had not been formally acquitted of either charge.
In addition to the two charges, Read also faces a charge of manslaughter with a motor vehicle.
The new trial is scheduled for January 27, 2025.
Read’s legal team did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
