Karen Reed, a Massachusetts woman, Police officer boyfriend murdered A woman who was involved in a vehicle accident in January 2022 was sued for wrongful death by the victim’s family on Monday.
Paul O’Keefe, brother of the late Boston police officer John O’Keefe, filed the lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court on behalf of the O’Keefe family.
Named alongside Reed are two bars where the couple were drinking before O’Keefe’s body was discovered in a pile of snow in front of their Canton home.
Reed’s trial ended in July after a Massachusetts jury could not reach a unanimous decision on innocence or guilt after 26 hours of deliberation, after disagreeing for several days.
Karen Reed arrives at Massachusetts courthouse amid chants of “killing cop” as supporters fight to get lawsuit dropped
Karen Reed leaves Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. Reed, who was accused of killing her Boston Police Department officer boyfriend with her car in January 2022, was back in court Friday for a hearing to argue her defense’s motion to dismiss. (Patriot Pix/BackGrid, courtesy of Fox News Digital)
O’Keefe’s body was found in several inches of snow outside the home of Boston Police Officer Brian Albert.
Prosecutors alleged that Reed intentionally crashed into him with his SUV during a drunken altercation in January 2022, leaving him to die on the front lawn of his home in a northeasterly wind.
Reed argued that he was framed in an elaborate cover-up to protect the Alberts, a powerful clan with deep ties to law enforcement.
What’s next for Karen Reid?
Karen A. Reed, the girlfriend of the late Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, was charged with second-degree murder in Norfolk Superior Court for the officer’s death on June 10, 2022. The defense presented the prosecution with a photograph showing the couple together. (John Trumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
She pleaded not guilty to the charges Second degree murder, Negligent driving resulting in death by driving while intoxicated and fleeing the scene of a collision causing injury or death.
An autopsy determined O’Keefe died from blunt force trauma and hypothermia.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, FOX 25 in Boston, The O’Keefe family alleges that Reed “intended to act recklessly” which led to John’s death. The two bars named in the lawsuit, CF McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar & Grill, are being sued by the family for negligently serving alcohol to an intoxicated person – in this case, Reed.
Karen Reed trial could sink other high-profile murder cases, expert warns: ‘I don’t see why it wouldn’t’
Karen Reed smiles during a news conference outside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, Monday, July 1, 2024. A judge declared a mistrial Monday after jurors could not agree on a case in which Reed was accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston Police Department officer, by running him over with an SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm. (AP Photo/Stephen Sene)
Additionally, the O’Keefes accuse Reed of intentionally or recklessly inflicting “severe emotional distress” on John’s 14-year-old niece on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, by telling her that she had “run over her uncle or been run over by a snowplow.”
“Mr. Reed’s conduct was extreme, outrageous, beyond the bounds of decency and completely unacceptable,” the lawsuit states.
O’Keefe’s family also accused Reed’s legal team of creating an “outrageous” and “false narrative”.
Earlier this month, Reed was back in court to argue his defense’s motion to dismiss the case.
Watch the dashcam footage from the night John O’Keefe was found dead
Karen Reed waits for her defense to meet during her trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, Friday, June 14, 2024. Reed, 44, is accused of ramming her Boston Police Department officer boyfriend with her SUV in northeast winds, causing his death after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Poole)
Attorney Martin Weinberg represented Reed in court on Friday. Attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti had previously argued that two of the three charges brought against Reed, 44, including second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, should be dismissed following his acquittal in June.
Her lawyers told Judge Beverly J. Cannon that the jurors agreed: Reid was innocent. The two charges were denied for retrial and if they were allowed, Reid would be placed in “double jeopardy”.
Prosecutors plan to retry Reed in January. Judge Canone heard arguments on both sides but said he would consider the case and not make a decision that day.
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At their trial in June, Jackson and Yannetti argued that the accusation that Reed murdered his girlfriend was part of an elaborate cover-up and entrapment.
Specifically, Reed’s defense argued that the family of the homeowner where O’Keefe was found dead in the snow on the morning of January 29, 2022, attempted to pin the blame for O’Keefe’s death on her in an elaborate cover-up.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Everhart, Audrey Conklin and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
