Crime
Trooper Michael Proctor’s unpaid suspension in the wake of the Karen Read trial is “disappointing,” the State Police union said Tuesday.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor. Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor’s unpaid suspension is “disappointing,” his union said Tuesday, also taking aim at the conspiracy theories that continue to plague Proctor’s investigation into the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
Proctor’s work on the case was overshadowed by his derogatory texts about Karen ReadO’Keefe’s girlfriend and alleged killer. Hours after Read’s murder trial ended in a hung jury last week, State Police relieved Proctor of duty.
The trooper faced a duty status hearing Monday, and Col. John Mawn Jr. accepted the hearing board’s recommendation to suspend Proctor without pay. An internal affairs probe into Proctor’s conduct is ongoing and may ultimately result in charges that would be adjudicated by a State Police Trial Board, per an agency spokesperson.
During his testimony in Read’s trial, Proctor admitted to using language that “dehumanized” Read. His texts to family, friends, and colleagues included messages that called Read a “wack job c**t” and “retarded,” made fun of her Crohn’s disease and Fall River accent, and joked about looking for nude photos on her phone.
In one message, Proctor even wrote that he hoped Read would kill herself.
In a statement Tuesday, State Police Association of Massachusetts President Brian Williams doubled down on the union’s condemnation of Proctor’s “unacceptable language.” He also pushed back on the coverup allegations Read’s lawyers have made throughout the case.
The Mansfield woman is accused of drunkenly and deliberately backing her SUV into O’Keefe following a night out with friends in January 2022. While prosecutors say Read left O’Keefe to die in the snow outside a house party in Canton, her lawyers allege she was framed in a vast conspiracy among witnesses and law enforcement. Proctor, they say, was in on the coverup and planted evidence at the scene.
The defense has pointed specifically to Proctor’s personal relationships with witnesses, including relatives of Brian Albert, a former Boston police officer who owned the home where O’Keefe was found unresponsive. However, Williams noted that the State Police union has received no information to suggest Proctor’s suspension was the result of anything other than his texts about Read.
“We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense,” he added.
Mawn’s decision to suspend Proctor without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is “disappointing,” Williams said, “because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family. His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance.”
He suggested “a more reasonable action” would have been suspending Proctor without impacting his family’s medical coverage.
Turning his attention to O’Keefe’s family, Williams added: “Every member of the Massachusetts State Police hopes that the O’Keefe Family finds peace, comfort, and closure as they continue to mourn the loss of their loved one. Until the focus is shifted away from collateral issues and back to investigating and prosecuting the death of John O’Keefe, the justice his family deserves will be delayed.”
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