Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read murder case, has been suspended without pay after a duty status hearing Monday.
Interim Police Superintendent Col. John Mawn accepted the recommendation from the duty status hearing board, a body of three commissioned officers who heard evidence in the matter, according to a police representative.
Proctor had publicly admitted to making "unprofessional and regrettable" comments about Read during the investigation into the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. The investigation led to Read being charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, which she denies.
Last week, after a nine-week trial, a mistrial was declared; her lawyers claimed on Monday that the jury had been ready to acquit her on two of the charges, including murder.
Proctor had already been relieved of duty and had his police-issued cruiser, gun and gear taken away following standard practice in such cases, but was still collecting a paycheck pending the hearing.
Proctor made about $102,000 in base salary and over $35,000 in other pay the last two years, according to publicly available payroll data.
The internal affairs investigation into Proctor remained ongoing, a state police spokesman said Monday, while announcing Proctor's suspension. The department will issue a finding on each allegation — sustained, not sustained, exonerated or unfounded — and relay the results to the state's POST Commission, which keeps police disciplinary records. In such investigations, if charges are found by investigators to be warranted, they are adjudicated by a State Police Trial Board.
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A protest was scheduled to take place Monday afternoon outside of the state police Troop H barracks in South Boston, where Proctor had been reassigned from the Norfolk District Attorney's Office. The transfer did not make him eligible to work in Troop H.
While Proctor testified during Read's trial that he referred to the woman as a "whack job" and texted his sister, "Hopefully she kills herself," he insisted the comments had no bearing on the integrity of the investigation.
Proctor's comments prompted widespread outrage. Gov. Maura Healey called the comments "terrible" and said they tarnished the integrity of law enforcement.
Last week, Mawn condemned the comments and said they do not reflect the agency.
"I think I have been very clear, and I want to be very clear, this conduct, in anyway shape or form in the Massachusetts State Police, will not be tolerated," he said.
