Funeral for police officer found dead in Canton draws hundreds of mourners to Braintree
BRAINTREE – Family, friends and police officers from across the state packed in to St. Francis of Assisi Church on Washington Street in Braintree on Monday to pay their respects at the funeral of slain Boston police officer John O'Keefe.
Dozens of Boston police officers lined the street and a large American flag hung outside the church Monday morning.
"Moving forward, I will do my best to continue his legacy of caring and supporting others ... even though I know I will never come close to the way he did," Paul O'Keefe said in his eulogy of his older brother.
John O'Keefe was found outside a Canton home on Fairview Road during a nor'easter Jan. 29. Karen A. Read, his girlfriend, has been charged with manslaughter and motor vehicle homicide in connection with his death.
O'Keefe was raised in Braintree and lived in Canton. He was a Boston police officer for 16 years after obtaining a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts. He was a Braintree High School graduate and a former intern at the Braintree Police Department.
When O'Keefe's sister and brother-in-law died, he took in his niece and nephew.
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"John was a kind person dedicated to his family and will be greatly missed by his coworkers and anyone who had the privilege of meeting him," Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief Gregory Long said in a statement.
Charged with manslaughter
Karen Read was arraigned Stoughton District Court on Wednesday. Prosecutors said she dropped O'Keefe off at home on Friday, Jan. 28, as a nor'easter rolled into the region. The next day, officials said, she returned to the house to look for him and found his body in the snow.
First responders took him to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, where he was pronounced dead several hours later.
Prosecutors said Read was unsure if she had hit him with her car Friday night. First responders said they heard her say: "I hit him. I hit him. I hit him?," according to prosecutors.
Read was released after posting $50,000 cash bail. She is scheduled to return to court for a probable cause hearing March 1.
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Reporters Wheeler Cowperthwaite, Alexandra Weliever and Fred Hanson contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Hundreds attend funeral of late Boston officer from Braintree
