Crime

Healey: State Police colonel ‘made the right decision’ by relieving Trooper Proctor of duties

Massachusetts State Police Col. John Mawn Jr. also acknowledged Trooper Michael Proctor’s vulgar texts about Karen Read could have implications in other pending cases.

By Abby Patkin

July 2, 2024

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Massachusetts State Police top brass “made the right decision” by removing Trooper Michael Proctor from his post in light of his vulgar texts about Karen Read, Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday. 

“I fully support the decision made by MSP on this,” Healey said after an event in Lowell, per WCVB video. 

Hours after Read’s high-profile murder trial ended in a mistrial Monday, State Police Col. John Mawn Jr. said the agency relieved Proctor of duty and transferred him out of the detective unit assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. 

“I think I’ve been very clear, and I want to remain very clear. Misconduct in any way, shape, or form in the Massachusetts State Police will not be tolerated,” Mawn told reporters Tuesday, according to video from WBZ. 

He condemned Proctor’s crude texts to family, friends, and colleagues, which made light of Read’s chronic illness and branded her a “wack job c**t” and “retarded.”

Proctor led the investigation into the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, who was found unresponsive outside another Boston officer’s home in Canton in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read, 44, drunkenly and intentionally backed her SUV into O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years. However, lawyers for the Mansfield woman argued she was framed in a coverup.

Though Proctor was a key witness in the case against Read, his testimony was a major black eye for prosecutors. On the stand, he defended the integrity of his investigation even as he admitted his texts “dehumanized” Read. 

Earlier this year, State Police confirmed an active internal affairs investigation into Proctor’s alleged misconduct. 

The trooper’s texts “are not reflective of the Massachusetts State Police,” Mawn said Tuesday. “That’s not where we want to be as an organization. And I believe that we will certainly continue to monitor that as we are moving through the process of our internal affairs investigation.”

Mawn emphasized due process, noting that the internal affairs probe is ongoing and Read’s case is still unresolved. However, he acknowledged Proctor’s texts could have implications for other pending cases involving the State Police. 

“I think we’re going to see additional scrutiny on all of these investigations as a result of what has come about in regards to the most recent trial,” Mawn said. “And we’re prepared for that.”

He also touched on the agency’s ongoing efforts to build trust and “show the public that we can be what they need us to be.”

“We have to take this head on,” Mawn said. “We have to be accountable to ourselves, to each other, to the residents and visitors to the commonwealth. We have to look in the mirror.”

The agency also needs to be “hyperfocused” on professionalism and continuous self-reflection and self-improvement, he asserted. 

“We need to work very hard to engage the public in a more meaningful way so that we can understand what it is that we need to do and where we want to go in order to maintain trust, build trust, and in some cases regain it,” Mawn added.

Mawn and Healey weren’t the only ones to weigh in on Proctor’s removal. In a statement provided to Boston.com, Alan Jackson — one of Read’s defense attorneys — took aim at Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, who defended Proctor from criticism and harassment earlier in the case.

“Conduct has consequences,” Jackson said. “DA Morrissey backed this misogynist, corrupt cop. And two hours after he announced he will pursue a second trial against an innocent woman, Karen Read, the MSP announced that Michael Proctor — the lead investigator for the Commonwealth — has been relieved of duty because of ‘serious misconduct that emerged in testimony at the trial.’ We look forward to another opportunity to reveal the truth about this unjust prosecution. Good luck.”