DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - The family of Boston police officer John O’Keefe has filed a lawsuit against Karen Read and a pair of Canton bars in connection with O’Keefe’s death in 2022, a court clerk confirmed Monday.
The clerk, who works in the civil division of Plymouth Superior Court, said the wrongful death lawsuit named the Estate of John O’Keefe and his brother, Paul, as plaintiffs. The suit listed Read and the bars — C.F. McCarthy’s and the Waterfall Bar and Grille — as defendants.
In addition to the new civil case, Read is facing separate criminal charges after prosecutors said she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die outside the Canton home of another Boston police officer in January 2022.
Her defense has claimed she is being framed, saying O’Keefe actually died after a fight inside the home.
O’Keefe and Read were dating when O’Keefe died.
The charges against Read and subsequent allegations of a cover-up by police put Read’s case in a spotlight long before it went to trial.
The prosecution and the defense ultimately called more than 70 witnesses over the course of Read’s more than two-month trial between late April and early July.
Jurors deliberated for five days but did not announce a verdict, leading Judge Beverly Cannone to declare a mistrial early last month.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office has said it plans to re-try Read. Read’s defense team has said they will continue fighting allegations against their client.
The defense filed a motion to dismiss two of the three charges against Read after the mistrial but had their motion denied in a ruling from Cannone last week.
Read’s new trial is currently scheduled to begin in late January.
In the civil case, Paul O’Keefe is suing in Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton, the county where he lives, even though the alleged crimes happened in Canton, in Norfolk County.
He and his parents claim the bars were negligent in the hiring, training, and supervision of their staff. The suit says Read was served seven drinks at C.F. McCarthy’s and two more later in the evening at the Waterfall Bar and Grille.
The suit states that both bars acted with “gross negligence” and “willful, wanton and reckless disregard” for the safety of others when they served an intoxicated defendant Read.
The suit claims Read struck and killed O’Keefe with her SUV, something she denies. It says her reckless conduct resulted in O’Keefe’s death.
And after his death, the suit alleges Read “outrageously created a false narrative” harming O’Keefe’s family, including O’Keefe’s’ niece who was living with her uncle after her parents died.
“Defendant Read intentionally and/or recklessly inflicted severe emotional distress when she woke up [O’Keefe’s niece] and informed her that she hit her uncle or that a snow plow hit her uncle,” the suit reads.
Paul O’Keefe told 7News that he did not want to comment on the suit yet. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
7News also reached out to both bars and Read’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, but they did not respond.
This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.
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