By Rick Sobey
Boston Herald
BOSTON — While Karen Read’s murder trial ended in a mistrial earlier this year, the family of John O’Keefe is moving ahead with a wrongful death suit against the late Boston cop’s girlfriend and two Canton bars.
O’Keefe’s brother Paul and his family on Monday filed the lawsuit against Read and the bars — Waterfall Bar & Grill and C.F. McCarthy’s.
The O’Keefe family claims that Read slammed into O’Keefe in front of 34 Fairview Road in Canton after a night out of heavy drinking, leaving the Boston police officer to die in a blizzard.
The wrongful death suit comes just a few days after a Norfolk County judge denied Read’s attorneys’ bid to toss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in the death of O’Keefe. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone had previously declared a mistrial on July 1 after nine weeks of testimony and five days of deliberation. The second trial is set for January.
In the suit filed on Monday, the O’Keefe family repeats what the Norfolk County DA’s Office had stated in court during the trial — that his relationship with Read had been deteriorating before his death.
Then after a night of several drinks at the Canton bars, Read drove him to 34 Fairview Road.
“After JJ (O’Keefe) got out of defendant Read’s vehicle in front of 34 Fairview Rd. on January 29, 2022, Read drove her SUV and hit JJ,” the lawsuit states. “At all relevant times on January 29, 2022, defendant Read drove her SUV in a state of intoxication.
“As a result of Read’s SUV hitting JJ on January 29, 2022, JJ was knocked down onto the ground in front of 34 Fairview Rd., suffered serious injury and died,” the lawsuit continues.
A serum conversion and retrograde extrapolation was done of Read’s blood — with the results showing her BAC would have been between .13% and .29% around the time she drove, according to the suit.
That estimated BAC exceeds the legal limit to drive a motor vehicle in Massachusetts.
“As a direct and/or proximate cause of Read’s drunk driving, JJ sustained serious injuries of body and mind, conscious pain and suffering, fear of impending death, lost earnings, medical, funeral and burial expenses, and died,” the lawsuit states.
Meanwhile, Read’s attorneys have argued that she was framed for the murder by those in the Canton house that night.
“She knowingly and deliberately changed her story and fabricated a conspiracy knowing the same to be false,” the lawsuit reads. “She publicly communicated this false narrative thereby frustrating Justice for JJ.
“Such false narrative caused the Plaintiffs aggravated emotional distress,” the suit states. “The Plaintiffs listed above bring this Complaint seeking full and complete JUSTICE FOR JJ.”
The lawsuit goes over how many drinks the two Canton bars served Read that night: C.F. McCarthy’s reportedly served seven alcoholic drinks to Read between 8:58 and 10:29 p.m., before she and O’Keefe went to Waterfall — where she reportedly had one shot and one mixed drink between 10:54 and 11:54 p.m.
Both bars are accused in the suit of continuing to serve Read when she was “visibly intoxicated.”
Because of the bars’ “negligence, gross negligence, and/or willful, wanton disregard for safety, JJ sustained serious injuries of body and mind, conscious pain and suffering, fear of impending death, lost earnings, medical, funeral and burial expenses, and died,” the lawsuit reads.
Lawyers for Read did not immediately respond to comment on Monday.
Also, Waterfall Bar & Grill and C.F. McCarthy’s did not immediately respond.
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