John O'Keefe's family files wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read, Canton Bars

BROCKTON – The family of John O'Keefe filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against Karen Read and two bars in Canton, Massachusetts.

The civil suit, filed in Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton, seeks at least $50,000 in damages for “conscious pain and suffering, fear of impending death, wrongful death, loss of value to next of kin, severe and profound emotional distress manifested in physical symptoms, and other compensable damages.”

Who is Karen Read?

Read is accused of running over her boyfriend John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, with her SUV after a night of drinking in January 2022 and leaving him to die in a yard in a snowstorm.

She is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of a crime causing bodily injury and death. Her first trial ended in a mistrial in July after the jury could not agree on all three counts. The next trial is scheduled for January 27, 2025.

Read has pleaded not guilty to all three charges. Her lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have two of the charges – second-degree murder and fleeing the scene of a crime – dropped after the mistrial, but Judge Beverly Cannone rejected that plea last Friday.

Civil lawsuit against Karen Read

Paul O'Keefe, John's brother, is the lead plaintiff in the civil suit against Read and the two bars where she and John O'Keefe drank shortly before his death – McCarthy's and the Waterfall Bar and Grill.

Also listed as plaintiffs are John O'Keefe's parents and his niece, whom he was caring for at the time of his death.

Neither Read nor her lawyers nor the owners of the two bars have commented on the matter so far.