The family of a Boston police officer filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman whose murder trial in the officer’s death ended with a hung jury in July.
The civil suit, filed in Plymouth County Superior Court by the estate of John O’Keefe, also accuses two bars of wrongful death for allegedly serving Read alcohol when she was already intoxicated on the night of Jan. 28, 2022.
The suit accuses Read, 44, of plowing into O’Keefe, 46, with her Lexus SUV after having a series of drinks at C.F. McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar & Grille.
Read claimed innocence during her criminal trial. Her defense team alleged that law enforcement officers framed her in the killing. NBC News’ efforts to reach Read were unsuccessful Monday. The lawyer in her criminal case did not respond to a request for comment.
A person who answered the phone at C.F. McCarthy’s on Monday would not comment on the lawsuit. No one could be reached at Waterfall Bar & Grille.
Read allegedly left her boyfriend for dead outside the home of a former Boston police officer in Canton, south of Boston, according to the suit.
The suit, which does not specify damages, also accuses Read and the two bars of negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Prosecutors had alleged that Read mowed O’Keefe down amid a deteriorating relationship. She was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.
On July 1, after five days of deliberations, a judge declared a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges.
According to Read’s lawyers, four jurors have since come forward and said the entire panel reached not guilty verdicts on two charges: second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a collision.
The jury remained deadlocked on the remaining manslaughter charge, according to the lawyers. Citing that evidence, the lawyers asked the judge in the case to dismiss the charges, but she declined.
Prosecutors vowed to retry the case. A new trial is scheduled for Jan. 27.
The O’Keefe family lawsuit accuses one of the bars, C.F. McCarthy’s, of serving Read seven drinks over a roughly 1 1/2 hour period on the night of Jan. 28. The second bar, Waterfall Bar & Grille, served Read a shot and a mixed drink shortly after, the lawsuit alleges.
After leaving the second bar around midnight on Jan. 29, the suit alleges, Read drove O’Keefe to the Canton house, where the other Boston officer was having a gathering.
O’Keefe and Read had been arguing, the suit alleges, when O’Keefe got out of the vehicle and Read fatally struck him.
In her criminal trial, Read’s lawyers said that their client watched O’Keefe enter the Canton house after she dropped him off. Hours later, she discovered that he never came home and raced back to the house, where she found O’Keefe’s body on the morning of Jan. 29.
The lawyers have alleged that O’Keefe was likely beaten inside the home and left outside in the snow.
