BOSTON — Karen Read is pushing back against the O’Keefe family in the wrongful death lawsuit against her, as she claims that she never told Turtleboy, “I’m dead. I’m (expletive) dead.”

That alleged quote was included in a recent court filing from the family of the late John O’Keefe. The family is suing Read for the death of her Boston cop boyfriend in Canton during a blizzard in 2022. Read was acquitted of all major criminal charges last year.

But the civil lawsuit continues, as the top focus this week revolves around Read’s cell phones. She is still trying to get her phones back.

In that fight for her phones, the O’Keefe family is trying to stop Read from receiving her phones from the Norfolk DA’s office until the family can secure a full digital record of the phones.

The family’s lawyer is citing an alleged quote that Read said to Aidan Kearney, also known as Turtleboy, during a phone call. Read allegedly said, “I’m dead. I’m (expletive) dead. Do you have any clue what’s on the phone that they took?”

The family’s lawyer, Marc Diller, wants to take a look at the phone.

“Read’s own admission supports Plaintiffs’ belief that the subject cell phone(s) contains discoverable information materially relevant to Plaintiffs’ claims and harmful to Read,” Diller wrote.

Read’s civil team is now pushing back, claiming that she never said the quote to Turtleboy — and arguing that the O’Keefe family lawyer’s filing is “completely inaccurate.”

“The words placed in quotation marks — ‘I’m dead. I’m (expletive) dead’ — were not spoken by Ms. Read, ever,” said Read attorney Aaron Rosenberg. “The actual recording reflects a different statement entirely. Because the Court referenced the misquotation in a subsequent order, we believed it was necessary to correct the record immediately.

“The Plaintiffs’ filing is completely inaccurate, and our filing addresses both the incorrect quotation and the troubling legal implications of relying on illegally-obtained audio that Plaintiffs themselves describe as having been ‘leaked,’ ” Rosenberg added.

Read’s civil team noted that she in the past has been frustrated with Turtleboy because he caused her to be “entangled” with certain members of Mass State Police, including Lt. Brian Tully.

Tully was removed from his post in the MSP detective bureau following disciplinary findings associated with his conduct in Read’s case.

“In the illegal recording (which Plaintiffs’ counsel troublingly attempted to leverage to his advantage) Ms. Read merely emphasized her frustration that Mr. Kearney placed her in such a position ‘Again. A-(expletive)-gain,’ ” Read’s lawyers wrote. “The recording is so unambiguous that counsel’s characterization of it simply cannot be reconciled with it. Either the recording was never reviewed, or worse, the Court has been presented with a version that was known to be false.”

Read’s civil team is calling for the court to sanction the O’Keefe lawyer based on this “serious fabrication of evidence.” Her civil team says the O’Keefe lawyer should be required to pay Read’s legal fees incurred in connection with this emergency motion.

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