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“Our mission to deliver the highest level of police services depends on the public’s trust in our professionalism and integrity. It is incumbent upon me, as well as every member of this Department, to hold one another accountable when any member compromises our mission by failing to uphold our values,” Noble said in the statement. “My decision to terminate Mr. Proctor follows a thorough, fair, and impartial process. I have weighed the nature of the offenses, their impact on our investigative integrity, and the importance of safeguarding the reputations of our dedicated women and men in the State Police.”
Proctor has the option of appealing his termination to the Civil Service Commission.
“We are truly disappointed with the trial board’s decision as it lacks precedent, and unfairly exploits and scapegoats one of their own, a trooper with a 12-year unblemished record,” Proctor’s family said in a statement. “Despite the Massachusetts State Police’s dubious and relentless efforts to find more inculpatory evidence against Michael Proctor on his phones, computers and cruiser data, the messages on his personal phone — referring to the person who killed a fellow beloved Boston Police Officer — are all that they found.”
The messages, his family said, “prove one thing, and that Michael is human — not corrupt, not incompetent in his role as a homicide detective, and certainly not unfit to continue to be a Massachusetts State Trooper.”
Proctor’s family said he 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. He is grateful for the unrelenting support of the union and the men and women of the Massachusetts State Police. His heart is always with the family of Officer John O’Keefe who continue to endure a prolonged and unimaginable nightmare.”
Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder for allegedly backing her SUV into O’Keefe, in a drunken rage in Canton in January 2022. Her lawyers say she was framed, and her first trial ended in a hung jury. Her retrial is scheduled to begin April 1.
Proctor was forced on the witness stand to read aloud vulgar texts he sent about Read to friends and coworkers during the early stages of the investigation.
The defense seized on Proctor’s texts to argue that investigators were biased against Read from the start.
“Finally, recognizing the ways in which this process has affected the family of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, I would also like to renew our condolences to them,” Noble said.
He said Proctor was fired for violating agency protocols pertaining to “unsatisfactory performance” and “alcoholic beverages.”
The alcoholic beverages issue presumably refers to a separate incident that came to light during Read’s first trial when Proctor took the stand.
On June 12, he testified that he and Canton police detective Kevin Albert were conducting a cold case investigation on Cape Cod in July 2022. The two men ended their day with a “few beers” and the next day, Proctor discovered Albert’s badge in his vehicle.
Proctor texted Albert, who responded by asking “did I take my gun” and added a wince emoji, according to testimony. Albert later texted that he was hungover and would have a couple more drinks that night “to make me feel good.”
Albert is the brother of Brian Albert, the now-retired Boston officer who owned the Canton home where O’Keefe’s body was found on the front lawn. Read’s lawyers had cited Proctor’s personal and professional ties to the Alberts and other witnesses in arguing that investigators engaged in a coverup.
Jack Lu, a retired Superior Court judge, said Wednesday that he disagreed with Proctor’s firing, saying the trooper had been “scapegoated.”
“The Massachusetts State Police caved to public pressure,” Lu said. “This further damages the already-tattered reputation of Massachusetts State Police discipline. This is out of proportion to previous discipline for the same infractions, and suggests to troopers that they are subject to the whim of politics, not a fair discipline process.”
A spokesperson for Proctor’s union couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
This breaking news story will be updated.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
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