Boston Officer’s Girlfriend Pleads Not Guilty to Murder – Boston News, Weather, Sports

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) – The girlfriend of a Boston police officer who died in January during a winter storm after authorities said she hit him with her vehicle, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder at her indictment in Supreme Court on Friday.

Karen Read, 42, from Mansfield, was originally charged with manslaughter in a district court and other charges, but a Norfolk County grand jury indicted her on the more serious charge this week.

She is also charged with manslaughtering a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

A judge set bail at $100,000. Prosecutors had asked for $500,000 bail.

Her boyfriend, 16-year veteran John O’Keefe, was found unresponsive around 6 am on Jan. 29 during a snowstorm outside a Canton home. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The couple had gone to two bars on the night of January 28 and were going to an after-hours party indoors, but Read was unwell and decided not to attend, authorities said.

O’Keefe got out of the vehicle, and Read hit him while he was making a three-point turn, and then drove away, prosecutors claimed. Read’s attorney said his client had no criminal intent and prosecutors faced political pressure to charge her over the death of a police officer.

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