Funeral Set For Boston Police Officer Killed In Canton

BRAINTREE, MA — Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe's funeral will be held in Braintree on Monday , the town where he grew up.

O'Keefe, 46, died during Saturday's blizzard after being struck by a car driven by his girlfriend, Karen A. Read, 41, of Mansfield, the Norfolk County District Attorney's office said.

She was arraigned in Stoughton District Court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision causing death and motor vehicle homicide. Read was released on $50,000 cash bail.

A funeral mass will be held at St. Francis of Assisi Church on Washington Street in Braintree at 11:30 a.m.

"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," said Boston police Superintendent-in-Chief Gregory Long in a statement Tuesday.

The 16-year veteran of the Boston police force was found Saturday morning, unconscious in a snow bank on Fairview Road in Canton, authorities said. Emergency officials rushed O'Keefe to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, where he was pronounced dead hours later.

Prosecutors said Read and O'Keefe, who was off-duty at the time, were at a bar early Saturday morning and left to go to a home on Fairview Road in Canton. Read then struck O'Keefe while trying to make a three-point turn and then drove away, according to prosecutors.

O'Keefe was born and grew up in Braintree. He graduated from Braintree High School and, later, Northeastern University, according to an obituary on Cartwright Funeral Home's website. He then earned his master's degree in criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts.

Correction: The funeral is Monday. A previous version of this story said the funeral is Sunday.