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Ex-Trooper Michael Proctor, lead investigator in Karen Read case, suspended by POST Commission
The suspension means Proctor is unable to work as a police officer in Massachusetts.
The state’s police oversight board has suspended the certification of former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the embattled investigator who was fired earlier this year over his conduct during the Karen Read case.
Previously:
The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, or POST, said it has “concluded by a preponderance of the evidence that the suspension is in the best interest of the health, safety, or welfare of the public,” according to a Dec. 18 order.
Proctor had been certified through July 1, 2026.
The suspension means he’s required to turn in any remaining State Police credentials or equipment, and he will also be barred from working as a police officer in Massachusetts. Proctor can request a hearing before the commission makes its final decision on his certification.
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State Police fired Proctor in March, citing in part the vulgar and derogatory texts he sent family, friends, and coworkers about Read.
Lawyers for Read, who had been accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, argued Proctor was a fatal flaw, or “cancer,” in the prosecution’s case. His crass remarks about Read’s health and appearance showed the state’s investigation was biased from the start, the defense alleged.
Read’s first trial ended in a hung jury in 2024, but a retrial this spring saw her acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges in O’Keefe’s death. She still faces a wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family and is separately suing several witnesses and investigators she claims conspired to frame her, Proctor included.
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The ex-trooper initially fought to reverse his termination, only to drop his Civil Service Commission appeal months later after prosecutors in another case disclosed that other “highly sensitive information” had been found on Proctor’s personal cellphone.
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