O'Keefe family sues Karen Read for “reckless conduct”

Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused to kill her boyfriend, a policeman with a vehicle in January 2022, is facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed against her on Monday by the victim's family.

Paul O'Keefe, the brother of the late Boston police officer John O'Keefe, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the O'Keefe family in Plymouth Superior Court.

In addition to Read, the two bars where the couple drank before O'Keefe's body was found in a snowbank in front of a house in Canton are also named.

Read's trial ended in July after a Massachusetts jury was deadlocked for days and could not unanimously agree on her guilt or innocence even after 26 hours of deliberation.

Karen Read arrives at the Massachusetts courthouse amid a sea of ​​“cop killer” chants and supporters fighting to have the case dismissed

Karen Read leaves Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. Read, who is accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, with a car in January 2022, was back in court Friday to attend a hearing to discuss her defense's motion to dismiss the case. (Patriot Images/Background Grid for Fox News Digital)

O'Keefe's body was found in several inches of snow in front of the home of Boston police officer Brian Albert.

Prosecutors alleged that Read intentionally drove her SUV into him during an alcohol-fueled brawl in January 2022, leaving him to die on the front lawn during a northeast storm.

Read claimed she was involved in an elaborate cover-up to protect the Alberts, an influential family with close ties to law enforcement.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR KAREN READ?

Karen A. Read, the girlfriend of late Boston police officer John O'Keefe, was charged in Norfolk Superior Court with first-degree murder in his death on June 10, 2022. The defense presented the prosecution with a photograph of the couple together. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

She pleaded not guilty to the charges Second degree murder, Manslaughter in road traffic under the influence of alcohol and hit-and-run resulting in injury and death.

An autopsy revealed that O'Keefe died of blunt force trauma and hypothermia.

In the lawsuit filed Monday, obtained by FOX 25 in Boston, the O'Keefe family claims Read “intended the reckless conduct” that ended in John's death. The two bars named in the lawsuit, CF McCarthy's and Waterfall Bar & Grill, are accused by the family of negligently serving alcohol to an intoxicated person – in this case, Read – the family claimed.

Karen Read's trial could derail other high-profile murders, warns expert: “It's hard to imagine that this isn't the case”

Karen Read smiles during a news conference outside Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Massachusetts. A judge declared the trial null and void on Monday after jurors could not reach a consensus in Read's case. Read was accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, by hitting him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In addition, the O'Keefes accuse Read of “intentionally and/or recklessly” inflicting “severe emotional distress” on John's 14-year-old niece on the morning of January 29, 2022, when she told the teenager “that she had hit her uncle or that her uncle had been hit by a snow plow.”

“Read’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, exceeded the bounds of decency and was completely intolerable,” the lawsuit states.

The O'Keefe family also accuses Read's defense team of creating a “misrepresentation” in an “outrageous” manner.

Earlier this month, Read appeared in court again for a hearing to discuss her defense's motion to dismiss the case.

WATCH: DASHCAM FROM THE NIGHT JOHN O'KEEFE WAS FOUND DEAD

Karen Read waits as her legal team meets during her trial Friday, June 14, 2024, in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Read, 44, is accused of hitting her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, with her SUV in the middle of a northeast storm, leaving him for dead after a night of drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Attorney Martin Weinberg argued for Read in court on Friday. Attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti had previously argued that two of three charges against 44-year-old Read, including second-degree murder and hit-and-run, should be dropped after a mistrial in June.

Her lawyers told Judge Beverly J. Cannone that the jury reportedly agreed Read was not guilty on two of the counts, and a further trial would expose Read to “double jeopardy.”

Prosecutors plan to retry Read in January. Cannone listened to arguments from both sides and said she would consult them without making a decision that day.

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Jackson and Yannetti argued during the trial in June that the allegations against Read that she killed her boyfriend were part of an elaborate cover-up and conspiracy investigation.

Specifically, Read's defense alleged that the family who owned the house where O'Keefe was found dead in the snow on the morning of January 29, 2022, had framed her for his death in an elaborate cover-up.

Fox News Digital's Chris Eberhart, Audrey Conklin and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.