Attorneys for Myles King allege Proctor “held views so fundamentally racist and opposed to him as a black man that the entire investigation was tainted.”
By Abby Patkin
2 minutes to read
A newly unsealed batch of messages from Michael Proctor’s cellphone shows the ex-trooper casually tossing out racial slurs with the same nonchalance he used to describe his favorite Nirvana track or go-to Dunkin’ breakfast sandwich.
Dating back more than a decade, the bigoted messages were included in a motion to dismiss a murder case the former Massachusetts State Police trooper investigated. Lawyers for Myles King, a Black man charged in a fatal 2021 Milton shooting, say Proctor’s texts reveal a “deep-seated and atrocious racial animosity that infected the entire investigation.”
“I was planning on tying up a [n-word] and dragging him from my bumper through the streets of Randolph,” Proctor wrote in one message included in the court document. King’s lawyers say the ex-trooper also had offensive images on his phone, including a picture of a caged Black child flanked by two smiling white children.
Proctor, the lead investigator on King’s case, “held views so fundamentally racist and opposed to him as a black man that the entire investigation was tainted,” defense attorneys Nicole and Rosemary Scapicchio argued in the motion to dismiss.
King’s lawyers further accused the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office of trying to shield Proctor, who was fired by State Police last year in light of the vulgar texts he sent about another high-profile murder defendant, Karen Read.
Previously:
“The message currently being sent is that it is acceptable to be a police officer and to hold beliefs that black people are animals responsible for all crime, and that the Commonwealth will protect people who hold those beliefs; shield them from accountability by refusing to call them as a witness; and seek protection orders to further shield their racism from the public,” the attorneys allege.
Proctor’s texts first came to light as part of a federal probe into the death of Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges last year in O’Keefe’s death, Read has long maintained she was framed as part of a vast law enforcement conspiracy. She’s pointed specifically to personal texts in which Proctor — the lead investigator on her case — called her a “wack job c**t” and “retarded,” made crass remarks about her appearance and health, and joked about searching for nude photos on her phone.
Read sued State Police and the Town of Canton earlier this month for civil conspiracy and negligent hiring and training, releasing dozens of additional vulgar, slur-filled messages between Proctor and former Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode. According to Read’s lawsuit, the pair casually threw out derogatory terms, wished harm on women and people of color, and discussed sexually assaulting romantic partners. Proctor also talked about “planting coke” on people, the complaint states.
The newly released messages also prompted the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state’s public defender agency, to call for a complete accounting of all cases involving Proctor and Goode.
“The messages point to serious bias and misconduct and raise immediate concerns about the fairness of cases in which they were involved,” said CPCS chief counsel Anthony Benedetti.
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
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