'To hold one another accountable': Why the MA State Police fired Karen Read case detective
- Massachusetts State Police officer, Michael Proctor, was terminated due to unprofessional conduct during the Karen Read investigation.
- Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, sent inappropriate text messages about Read during the investigation.
- Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, but her defense claims a cover-up by law enforcement.
- Proctor's family expressed disappointment with the decision, stating that he was being unfairly scapegoated.
After being suspended without pay in July, the Massachusetts State Police lead investigator in the Karen Read case has been fired.
State Police said in a statement Wednesday that Col. Geoffrey Noble accepted the Trial Board’s recommendation to terminate Michael Proctor, of Canton.
Proctor was the lead investigator in the case of Read, a Mansfield woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, Braintree native John O'Keefe. The trial ended in a mistrial in July and her second trial is set to begin April 1.
During the trial, Proctor was questioned about inappropriate texts he had sent regarding Read during the investigation. He apologized to the jury for his "unprofessional" comments.
“Our mission to deliver the highest level of police services depends on the public’s trust in our professionalism and integrity. It is incumbent upon me, as well as every member of this Department, to hold one another accountable when any member compromises our mission by failing to uphold our values,” Noble said in the statement. “As Superintendent, my role demands that I do what is in the best interest of the Department. My decision to terminate Mr. Proctor follows a thorough, fair, and impartial process. I have weighed the nature of the offenses, their impact on our investigative integrity, and the importance of safeguarding the reputations of our dedicated women and men in the State Police.”
Why was the Karen Read case investigator fired
The case has drawn widespread national attention. Read's defense claims it was a cover-up by law enforcement and that others involved framed Read for O'Keefe's death. Prosecutors say Read and O’Keefe had been drinking at a local bar with friends and acquaintances before they got into an argument. They say she hit him with her SUV outside the home of Brian Albert, who was hosting an after-party, shortly before 12:30 a.m.
But Read's lawyers say Read dropped O'Keefe off at Albert's home where he was fatally beaten inside before his body was planted on the front lawn. They say she was then framed for his death.
While testifying in the first trial, Proctor was forced to read crude text message he sent about Read to friends and fellow state troopers coworkers at the start of the investigation. Read's defense team said the messages showed Proctor had made up his mind that Read was guilty before doing a full investigation, fueling the cover-up theory.
In a statement, the Proctor family said they are "truly disappointed" with the decision, which they said "unfairly exploits and scapegoats one of their own, a trooper with a 12-year unblemished record,."
"Despite the Massachusetts State Police’s dubious and relentless efforts to find more inculpatory evidence against Michael Proctor on his phones, computers and cruiser data, the messages on his personal phone – referring to the person who killed a fellow beloved Boston Police Officer – are all that they found," the family wrote. "The messages prove one thing, and that Michael is human – not corrupt, not incompetent in his role as a homicide detective, and certainly not unfit to continue to be a Massachusetts State Trooper.”