Cheers erupted for Karen Read after she was found not-guilty of murder and manslaughter, putting the criminal case behind her.
But, Read’s legal troubles aren’t over yet. She still faces a civil lawsuit.
“It’ll be back. We’ll be doing the Karen Read show one more time if its up to the O’Keefe family,” said 7NEWS Legal Analyst Tom Hoopes.
The brother of Boston police officer John O’Keefe filed a wrongful death suit last summer on behalf of their family.
The case goes after Read and the two Canton bars that served her the night before O’Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow.
It claims Read had seven drinks at C.F. McCarthy’s and two more later at the Waterfall Bar and Grille.
The suit states that both bars “negligently served alcohol to an intoxicated person.”
Read went on to drive O’Keefe to a house party. She was found guilty of drunk driving and will serve one year probation for that offense.
“So there’s a guilty finding on OUI – so that’s a given but the standard in the civil case is the same here, was there causation of some kind. Did Karen Read cause somehow – by her conduct – the death of John O’Keefe,” said Hoopes.
In this suit, the O’Keefe’s are asking to be awarded money for their suffering, explaining that Read, “inflicted severe emotional distress when she woke up (John O’Keefe’s niece) and informed her that she hit her uncle or that a snow plow hit her uncle.”
O’Keefe’s friend said both his buddy’s parents, brother, and especially niece and nephew are in pain.
“Life is not fair and they learned that when their parents passed and Johnnie passed. There’s no justice,” said O’Keefe’s friend John Jackson.
