The cop who called Karen Read a “wack job c–t” in texts to his buddies has been fired from the Massachusetts State Police, The Post has learned.
Trooper Michael Proctor — the former lead investigator in Read’s alleged murder of her cop boyfriend John O’Keefe — was canned from his job officially after his admittedly “unprofessional” messages were revealed at her trial last year.
Proctor’s family claimed the 12-year veteran trooper had been “wrongfully” terminated and defamed. It was not immediately clear if Proctor planned to bring legal action.
“Proctor and his detectives led a meticulous and thorough investigation of integrity, and despite today’s wrongful termination, and great harm and defamation this case has inflicted on him and his family, Proctor still believes justice will be served,” the family said in a statement.
During Read’s first trial, Proctor was forced to answer for his embarrassing correspondence about his investigative target, Read.
Proctor joked about searching for nudes of Read on her phone and made fun of her Crohn’s disease, saying, “She’s got a leaky balloon knot. Leaks poo.”
He also seemed to have made up his mind about Read’s guilt when he texted: “I looked at [O’Keefe’s] body in the hospital. He was banged up. She hit him with her car.”
Proctor also called her “re—-ed” and said he “truly” hated her lawyer, calling the attorney an “a—hole.”
The cop admitted from the witness stand that the messages were “regrettable” and “something I’m not proud of.”
Proctor was suspended without pay the week after Read’s case ended in mistrial in July because of a deadlocked jury.
His family has insisted that the messages show he’s only “human” in that they were on his personal phone to friends and family and a forgivable response to a beloved fellow cop’s murder.
Read faces a retrial on April 1 in the case accusing her of running O’Keefe over with her SUV after a night of drinking, and leaving him for dead in a snowbank in Canton, Massachusetts, as a snowstorm was coming in.
Read has maintained her innocence and claimed she is the scapegoat in a sweeping law enforcement cover-up.
A federal probe, which may have been looking into possible law enforcement misconduct, closed earlier this month without charges.