Karen Read exposes Massachusetts cops’ anti-Asian texts in new lawsuit

Multiple anti-Asian slurs are among the racist text messages at the center of Karen Read’s new lawsuit against two Massachusetts police departments, raising new questions about bias in law enforcement.

The lawsuit filed June 5 in Bristol County Superior Court alleges that former State Trooper Michael Proctor and former Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode, key investigators in Read’s murder case, exchanged some 13,000 messages containing “entrenched and unrepentant hatred for women, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Jews, Hispanics, Arabs and gay people.” Among those messages, Goode allegedly called Asian people “ch*nk T*rd,” while Proctor allegedly claimed “All g**ks have shrubs between their legs.”

Those examples are reportedly far from isolated. “They are not officers who occasionally voiced an offensive remark,” the 87-page complaint states. Their recorded communications, shared with like-minded friends over a decade, purportedly “establish entrenched and unrepentant hatred.” Speaking to GBH News, Suffolk University law professor Rosanna Cavallaro said the “appalling” messages “really reveal a deeply entrenched set of attitudes that just cannot be part of law enforcement.”

Allegations that officers freely express racial animus for years without consequence echoes a familiar and dangerous pattern for Asian Americans. The messages surface amid an era of persisting anti-Asian hate, reinforcing long-held concerns that bias within police ranks is institutional. We also see how it is capable of shaping how crimes involving Asian Americans are investigated, prosecuted or ignored.

Compounding the concern is how openly the bias was expressed within law enforcement circles. One of Read’s lawyers, Alan Jackson, told ABC News that the messages signal “a comfort level within the ranks” of both departments that “cannot stand.” Separately, the Committee for Public Counsel Services noted that the messages “raise immediate concerns about the fairness of cases” the officers handled, potentially including those with Asian American defendants or victims.

Read was tried twice and ultimately acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter after prosecutors alleged she backed her SUV into O’Keefe during a snowstorm in Canton in January 2022. Proctor was fired in March 2025, while Goode resigned last week before termination proceedings could be completed.

CPCS has since called for records on all cases involving both officers. The Norfolk County District Attorney has begun notifying defense attorneys of the text messages in question.