Karen Read Now Faces Civil Suit as Well as Murder Charge in Police Officer Boyfriend’s Death

Karen Read Now Faces Civil Suit as Well as Murder Charge in Police Officer Boyfriend’s Death
Karen Read listens to her attorney, Martin Weinberg, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Aug. 9, 2024. Greg Derr/Pool/The Patriot Ledger via AP
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PLYMOUTH, Mass.—The family of the police officer boyfriend Karen Read is accused of killing by hitting him with her vehicle and leaving him to die in the snow has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her and two bars where they had been drinking that night.

The lawsuit blames the death of John O'Keefe on Read, and also on what it describes as the bars’ negligence by continuing to serve drinks to her despite signs she was drunk. It says the first bar served her seven alcoholic drinks in about 90 minutes the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and that Read carried the last drink into the second bar, where she was served a shot and a mixed alcoholic drink within an hour.