PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — The family of police officer John O’Keefe, who was allegedly killed by his girlfriend Karen Read when she hit him with her vehicle and left him in the snow, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her and two bars where they were drinking that evening.
In the lawsuit, filed in Plymouth Superior Court on Monday by Paul O’Keefe on behalf of his family and his brother’s estate, it is claimed that Read is responsible for O’Keefe’s death. The lawsuit also points to the bars’ negligence, alleging that they should not have served Read more drinks when it was clear she was intoxicated. According to the suit, the first bar served her seven alcoholic drinks over about 90 minutes on the night of January 28, 2022. Read then brought her last drink into a second bar, where she was served a shot and another mixed drink within an hour.
The lawsuit does not specify how much alcohol O’Keefe consumed before getting into Read’s SUV that night.
The lawsuit names Read, Waterfall Bar & Grill, and C.F. McCarthy’s as defendants and requests a jury trial.
Attempts to reach Read’s lawyers for comments on the civil suit were unsuccessful on Tuesday. A person answering the phone at the Waterfall Bar said the owners were not available, and someone at C.F. McCarthy’s declined to comment.
Read has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a retrial scheduled for January 27 on charges that include second-degree murder and manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence, as well as leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Her previous two-month criminal trial ended in July when the judge declared a mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. The judge also dismissed claims that jurors later asserted they had all agreed Read was not guilty of murder or leaving the scene.
After a night out at the bars, Read, 44, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, reportedly dropped O’Keefe, a Boston police officer for 16 years, off outside the home of another police officer in Canton. O’Keefe’s body was later found in the front yard, and an autopsy revealed that he died from hypothermia and blunt force trauma.
Read’s lawyers argue that O’Keefe was killed inside the home and allege that others involved in the situation chose to blame her because she was seen as a “convenient outsider.”
The lawsuit claims that Read and O’Keefe had been arguing and that she was aware she had hit him with her SUV before she returned to his home. It also claims that several hours later, she awakened O’Keefe’s 14-year-old niece, telling her that something had happened to O’Keefe and suggesting that he may have been struck by either her vehicle or a snowplow.
