State Police Union comments on Proctor’s unpaid suspension

The unpaid suspension of Massachusetts State Police Officer Michael Proctor was “disappointing,” his union said Tuesday, 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 writing about Karen Read, O’Keefe’s friend and suspected murderer. Hours after Read’s murder trial ended without a verdict last week, Proctor was relieved of his duties by the state police.

The trooper faced a duty status hearing Monday, and Col. John Mawn Jr. followed the hearing board’s recommendation to suspend Proctor without pay. An internal investigation into Proctor’s conduct is ongoing and could ultimately result in charges that would be decided by a State Police Trial Board, according to a department spokesman.

During his testimony at Read’s trial, Proctor admitted to using language that “dehumanized” Read. In his text messages to family, friends and colleagues, he called Read a “crazy cunt” and “retarded,” among other things, made fun of her Crohn’s disease and Fall River accent, and joked that he was looking for nude photos on her phone.

In one message, Proctor even wrote that he hoped Read would commit suicide.

In a statement Tuesday, Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, reiterated the union’s condemnation of Proctor’s “unacceptable language.” He also refuted the cover-up allegations made by Read’s lawyers throughout the case.

The Mansfield woman is accused of drunkenly and intentionally driving her SUV into O’Keefe after a night out with friends in January 2022. While prosecutors say Read left O’Keefe dying in the snow outside a house party in Canton, her lawyers claim she was involved in a vast conspiracy involving witnesses and law enforcement officers. Proctor, they say, was involved in the cover-up and planted evidence at the crime scene.

The defense specifically pointed to Proctor’s personal relationships with witnesses, including relatives of Brian Albert, a former Boston police officer who owned the house where O’Keefe was found unconscious. But Williams noted that the state police union had received no information suggesting Proctor’s suspension was due to anything other than his text messages about Read.

“We want to reiterate that yesterday’s actions are unrelated to the defense’s salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracy, unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise,” he added.

Mawn’s decision to suspend Proctor without pay pending the outcome of the investigation was “disappointing,” Williams said, “because it places the punishment for Trooper Proctor on his young family. His children will no longer be eligible for benefits such as health insurance.”

He said a “more reasonable course of action” would have been to suspend Proctor without affecting his family’s health insurance.

Addressing 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 shifts away from trivial matters and back to the investigation and prosecution of John O’Keefe’s death, the justice his family deserves will be slow in coming.”

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