The legal battle surrounding Karen Read took another sharp turn this week, with her defense team announcing plans to file lawsuits of their own against several key figures tied to the case.
At Monday’s hearing, attorneys for Read — who was acquitted earlier this year in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe — revealed that they intend to sue members of the Massachusetts State Police, the Town of Canton, the Canton Police Department, and multiple individuals who testified against her in the criminal trials. Among those named are Detective Lt. Brian Tully, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, former Trooper Michael Proctor, Brian and Nicole Albert, Matthew and Jennifer McCabe, and Brian Higgins.
This move adds yet another layer to what was already a tangled legal matter. According to NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne, the announcement wasn’t entirely unexpected.
“This case has been full of unusual twists,” Coyne explained. “Now a relatively straightforward wrongful death suit is becoming more complex, more expensive, and much more time-consuming. Bringing in 10 new defendants who will likely countersue only adds to the delays.”
Coyne noted that, at its core, the civil case stems from what should have been treated as a “simple accident,” but has instead evolved into a sprawling, drawn-out legal fight.
Separate or Combined Cases?
A key question is whether all these suits will be combined into one massive trial or handled separately. Coyne believes the smarter approach is to keep them apart for now, pointing out that even preliminary motions and discovery could take a year or more, delaying the O’Keefe family’s claims even further.
The Wrongful Death Claim
During Monday’s session before Plymouth County Superior Court Judge Daniel O’Shea, Read’s attorneys also pushed to dismiss part of the wrongful death case filed by O’Keefe’s family. They argued that his parents, brother, and niece — whom he had raised after she was orphaned as a child — do not have legal standing to claim emotional distress damages because none of them directly witnessed his death or saw his body until after he was pronounced dead.
Attorney Damon Seligson stated: “They were not witnesses to the incident. They only encountered him hours later at the hospital.”
The family’s lawyers disagreed, saying Read caused emotional harm not only by her actions the night of O’Keefe’s death but also by spreading what they called a fabricated “conspiracy” narrative that inflamed public opinion against them.
“These are real damages suffered by real people,” attorney Marc Diller told the court.
A Devastating Impact on the Niece
Much of the emotional distress claim centers around O’Keefe’s 14-year-old niece, whom he had been raising since she lost both parents. According to testimony, Read woke the teenager on the morning of O’Keefe’s death, telling her he hadn’t come home and speculating aloud that maybe she hit him with her SUV.
Diller argued that Read, knowing the girl’s vulnerable background, left her feeling “alone, vulnerable, shocked and afraid” and later intensified her trauma by launching a public campaign of disinformation.
A Long Road Ahead
Read was acquitted in June of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a deadly collision after two high-profile trials. Prosecutors had claimed she struck O’Keefe with her SUV outside a fellow officer’s home in 2022 and left him to die in the snow. Her defense countered with allegations of police misconduct and a cover-up, ultimately convincing jurors of her innocence on the most serious charges.
She was convicted only of drunk driving and sentenced to a year of probation.
Now, with multiple lawsuits and countersuits on the horizon, the civil proceedings promise to be lengthy and complex, leaving closure for either side far out of reach.
