{"id":684483,"date":"2026-06-04T19:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684483\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:40:11","slug":"karen-read-unleashes-tidal-wave-of-explicit-texts-in-new-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684483\/","title":{"rendered":"Karen Read unleashes tidal wave of explicit texts in new lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLocal News\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRead is suing the Town of Canton and Massachusetts State Police, alleging civil conspiracy and negligent hiring, training, and supervision.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tKaren Read listens as Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik testifies during her murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Friday, May 9, 2025. Mark Stockwell \/ The Sun Chronicle via AP, Pool\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Abby Patkin<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tupdated on June 4, 2026 | 2:41 PM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

4 minutes to read<\/p>\n

Karen Read<\/a> is suing the Town of Canton and Massachusetts State Police, alleging two law enforcement officials who worked on her murder case are \u201cvirulent bigots\u201d whose private messages reveal an \u201cinstitutional rot at the very core of both organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 87-page lawsuit, filed in Bristol Superior Court Thursday, includes a number of vulgar, expletive-filled text messages between the case\u2019s lead investigator, ex-Trooper Michael Proctor<\/a>, and former Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode. Goode, who worked the early investigation in Read\u2019s case, resigned earlier this week<\/a> amid an ongoing internal affairs probe into allegations of misconduct.<\/p>\n

Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges last year in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O\u2019Keefe. While prosecutors alleged Read drunkenly backed her SUV into O\u2019Keefe and left him to die on a snowy lawn in Canton, she and her lawyers have long maintained others were to blame for the killing.<\/p>\n

Proctor, who admitted to sending crass texts about Read<\/a> to family, friends, and coworkers, was ultimately fired last year over his handling of the case. In Thursday\u2019s complaint, however, Read\u2019s attorneys say those messages were just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

Read\u2019s high-profile case \u201cshone an unflinching spotlight on something\u201d state and local police \u201chave spent years trying to conceal: an imbedded culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations,\u201d the lawsuit alleges. <\/p>\n

Canton officials said they learned of the lawsuit after hearing from reporters, and that the town has not yet been served.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Town of Canton has the utmost faith and confidence in the new leadership of Canton Police Department under Chief Michael Daniels, and we would refute any broad stroke characterizations about the brave and dedicated men and women who serve in the Department,\u201d the town said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Having made \u201csignificant strides forward\u201d over the past two years, \u201cthe Department is poised to move further ahead as a modern public safety agency, which the citizens of Canton rightfully expect and deserve,\u201d the town added. <\/p>\n

State Police Col. Geoffrey D. Noble, meanwhile, explicitly condemned the \u201cdisturbing\u201d messages outlined in Read\u2019s lawsuit as \u201centirely inconsistent with any basic standard of decency and certainly with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese racist, sexist and abhorrent comments absolutely do not reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are not tolerated within our ranks. They underscore and fully support my decision to terminate Michael Proctor,\u201d said Noble, who took over the agency nearly three years after O\u2019Keefe\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

While he emphasized the importance of moving forward \u201cwith a focus on upholding our standards, strengthening accountability, and supporting the honorable women and men of the State Police,\u201d Noble acknowledged that the agency does so \u201ckeenly aware of the ways in which this misconduct harmed the public trust on which our mission depends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawsuit cites thousands of explicit, slur-filled messages<\/p>\n

Proctor and Goode \u201care virulent bigots whose hatred for anyone and everyone different from themselves permeates their every action,\u201d Read\u2019s lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not officers who occasionally voiced an offensive remark,\u201d the complaint continues. \u201cThey are men whose written and recorded communications \u2014 sent to one another and to a circle of like-minded friends over the course of a decade \u2014 establish entrenched and unrepentant hatred for women, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Jews, Hispanics, Arabs, and gay people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair\u2019s \u201cunfitness for any position of public trust was not subtle,\u201d and their involvement in the investigation into O\u2019Keefe\u2019s death \u201cinvariably and irredeemably contaminated it in every respect,\u201d according to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pointing to thousands of messages, Read\u2019s team alleges Proctor and Goode casually threw out slurs and derogatory terms, wished harm on women and people of color, and talked about sexually assaulting romantic partners as they slept. Proctor also discussed \u201cplanting coke\u201d on people,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n

\u201c[S]he\u2019s a jew\u2026so def puts out,\u201d Goode wrote in one text, according to the complaint. In other texts, he purportedly called Boston Mayor Michelle Wu a \u201clittle c\u2014t\u201d and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft a \u201cterrible c\u2014ty Jew.\u201d<\/p>\n

While discussing Sandra Birchmore<\/a> \u2014 the young Canton woman allegedly killed by a Stoughton police detective who had groomed her \u2014 Goode purportedly told his friends, \u201c[t]hat chick was borderline retarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another message cited in the lawsuit, Proctor allegedly wrote, \u201cIt should be \u2018punch a [n-word] day\u2019 in canton today out of retribution. Any [racist slur] u see blast it in the fac\u0435.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica sucks \u2026. Hitler was really on to something then the f\u2014ing US had to step in and ruin it,\u201d Proctor messaged elsewhere, according to the complaint. He also purportedly wrote that there were \u201c[t]oo many Jews [in Sharon],\u201d adding, \u201cWe really should keep them in a concentration camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPut simply,\u201d Read\u2019s lawyers argued, Proctor and Goode \u201cwere then and are now completely and unquestionably unfit to hold positions of authority with MSP and CPD, much less to play important roles \u2014 or in Ms. Read\u2019s case, the primary role \u2014 in homicide investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her complaint brings claims of civil conspiracy and negligent hiring, training, and supervision. Separately, Read still faces a wrongful death lawsuit<\/a> from O\u2019Keefe\u2019s family and a defamation lawsuit<\/a> from witnesses in her case who allege she and Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney \u201corchestrated a coordinated campaign\u201d to falsely implicate them in O\u2019Keefe\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read has also filed a civil conspiracy lawsuit<\/a> against several of those witnesses, as well as Proctor and two other State Police investigators. That case remains pending in federal court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the new lawsuit below (warning, contains graphic language):<\/p>\n

Karen Read\u2019s lawsuit against Canton and Massachusetts State Police <\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n

Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local News Read is suing the Town of Canton and Massachusetts State Police, alleging civil conspiracy and negligent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-684483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}