After Karen Read was found not guilty of killing her boyfriend John O’Keefe in 2022, she filed a sweeping lawsuit against the Massachusetts State Police and Canton Police Department — and the court filing puts two former officers at the middle of the story: Michael Proctor and Sean Goode.
Read filed the suit in Bristol Superior Court on June 4, 2026, alleging that her trials exposed “an [embedded] culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot on the very core of each organizations.” While neither Proctor nor Goode is known as as a defendant, dozens of their text messages are featured throughout the criticism as evidence of what Read’s legal team describes as institutional rot.
Days later, it was confirmed on June 8, 2026, that Proctor is ready to be deposed as a part of a wrongful death lawsuit that O’Keefe’s family has filed against Read. Nevertheless, his upcoming appearance in court isn’t the one legal matter he’s found himself in the course of concerning Read.
Every little thing to find out about Proctor, below.
Michael Proctor Was the Lead Investigator on Karen Read’s Case
Proctor served because the lead investigator on the case against Read after O’Keefe was found mortally wounded outside the house of now-retired Boston police sergeant Brian Albert on January 29, 2022. O’Keefe, 46, died of blunt force trauma to the pinnacle. Prosecutors accused Read of striking O’Keefe together with her SUV while intoxicated and leaving him to die in a blizzard — allegations she has consistently denied.
Proctor’s role became probably the most scrutinized facets of the trial. During Read’s first trial in April 2024, prosecutors and defense attorneys aired a series of text messages Proctor had sent about Read, including one wherein he said he hoped she would kill herself. The messages, sent to friends and colleagues throughout the energetic investigation, fueled defense arguments that Read had been the goal of a biased and compromised inquiry.
In March 2025, the Massachusetts State Police fired Proctor, citing the messages revealed throughout the trial as a key reason.
Michael Proctor and Sean Goode Exchanged Concerning Text Messages
Goode, a former Canton police officer, resigned on June 2, 2026, in the course of an internal investigation tied to the handfuls of messages he and Proctor had exchanged dating back to 2013.
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The text messages were originally obtained as a part of the prosecution of Myles King, who has been accused of killing Marquis Simmons in 2021. Because Proctor was the lead investigator on that case, his personal phone was searched as a part of the murder trial. Although Proctor’s phone was placed under a protective order, Read’s attorneys were granted permission to make use of what they present in future litigation against the Massachusetts State Police and the Canton Police Department. Read signaled the approaching suit in an April 2 filing, and the court allowed her team to make use of the messages.
The Lawsuit Quotes a Long Trail of Alleged Messages
The criticism quotes a series of messages Read’s attorneys say Proctor and Goode exchanged over greater than a decade. The contents are graphic, racist, sexist and, in Read’s team’s words, “abhorrent.”
In a single alleged message a couple of automobile crash in Canton, Proctor wrote, “Actually, take your time, I saw a [n*] was involved, so I wouldn’t rush should you’re working. Allow them to die.”
In a single message cited within the filing, Read’s attorneys say Proctor wrote, “It must be ‘punch a [n*****] day’ in canton today out of retribution. Any shine u see blast it within the face.” A subsequent message allegedly read, “America sucks …. Hitler was really on to something then the [f***] US has to step in and wreck it.”
Read’s lawsuit further alleges that Proctor and Goode held “long-standing and deeply held biases against women.” Several text exchanges cited within the filing show the 2 former officers allegedly discussing sexual acts performed on women — at times while the ladies were asleep — and referring to women as “pigs” and other vulgar terms. In a single alleged message, Proctor wrote that he needed “a roofie or something” to search out someone to have sex with.
Read claims in her suit that each departments knew or must have known about Proctor and Goode’s alleged bigotry, in addition to the conduct of other officers she says were unfit to analyze crimes and showed bias that bled into their work.
The Police Departments Respond
Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble of the Massachusetts State Police issued a strongly worded statement to Us. “These disturbing messages are entirely inconsistent with any basic standard of decency and definitely with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper. These racist, sexist and abhorrent comments absolutely don’t reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are usually not tolerated inside our ranks. They underscore and fully support my decision to terminate Michael Proctor,” Noble said.
Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, is sharing recent insights about her case going into her second trial. Read, 45, is accused of drunkenly killing O’Keefe in January 2022. Prosecutors allege she hit him together with her SUV and left him to die within the snow in […]
“As Superintendent, my role requires me to act in the most effective interest of the Department. On this moment, which means moving forward with a give attention to upholding our standards, strengthening accountability, and supporting the honorable men and women of the State Police who serve our communities with professionalism and integrity,” he added. “We accomplish that keenly aware of the ways wherein this misconduct harmed the general public trust on which our mission depends.”
The Canton Police Department addressed the lawsuit in a Facebook statement on June 4, 2026, saying the town “has not been served.”
“As such we now have nothing to review with legal counsel presently. We’ve got no comment on the press release issued by the Read legal team,” the department added.
What Karen Read Hopes to Achieve From the Lawsuit
Read broke her silence concerning the suit on the Today show on June 5, 2026, alongside her attorney, Alan Jackson, who said her goals transcend financial damages.
“What Karen wants, you can’t write on a check, which is exposure,” Jackson said. “Exposure of the corruption that’s the DNA of the Massachusetts State Police and the Canton Police Department.”
A jury found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after her first trial led to a mistrial. She was convicted only of the lesser charge of driving while intoxicated.
“This was at all times our plan, that I had to avoid wasting my very own life first,” Read said. “I can’t do anything if I’m not free. I needed to fight for my freedom for years, and I knew because it unfolded I used to be never going to have the option to simply forget that this happened to me, that I used to be wronged in this manner. I couldn’t just return to life because it was. I even have to proceed fighting for justice.”
She added that the “acquittal is deserved, however the wrongs haven’t been completely righted.”
This story was compiled with the assistance of AI tools and edited by journalists.