Karen Read compares supporters to Vietnam War protesters

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“You would have protested the Vietnam War and ended it. This is the modern equivalent of that. So thank you all,” Read told a crowd of her supporters on Monday.

As Karen Read prepares for her second murder trial, she took time Monday to thank her supporters, comparing the “Free Karen Read” movement to the protests against the Vietnam War.

Read, 44, expressed her gratitude during a protest in Dedham, one of several demonstrations held by Read's supporters on Monday to proclaim her innocence in the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe. Videos and photos from the demonstration show Read and her family hugging protesters, blowing kisses, taking photos and shaking hands.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope to meet you all one day. I don't know you, but I love you and you are brave,” Read told the crowd, according to a clip from the YouTube account LTL Media. “You would have protested and ended the Vietnam War. This is the modern equivalent of that. So thank you all.”

Read is accused of drunkenly and intentionally driving her SUV into O'Keefe – her then-boyfriend – on a snowy night in Canton in January 2022. Prosecutors say Read left O'Keefe to die in a snowstorm outside the home of another Boston police officer, but her lawyers claim O'Keefe was severely beaten after entering the house for a party.

Read and her supporters say she was framed as part of an alleged cover-up orchestrated by witnesses and law enforcement officials. Crowds of her supporters gather outside the courthouse in Dedham for each of Read's court appearances, and the defendant herself is often seen interacting with the crowd.

Still, Read's Vietnam comment drew ire from social media users online, who argued that the Mansfield woman's case had little to do with the war.

The Vietnam War, a contentious conflict that resulted in millions of deaths, spawned a massive counterculture and antiwar movement that swept the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s. By comparison, Read's case has spawned an anti-establishment movement on a much smaller scale. Frequent targets of the “Free Karen Read” group include the Massachusetts State Police, which investigated O'Keefe's death, and the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting Read's case.

Read's first trial ended in a jury deadlock in July, the culmination of several months of controversy and speculation over hotly debated evidence in the case. Prosecutors intend to retry Read in January. Separately, O'Keefe's family last week filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Read and two local bars where the couple had been drinking before O'Keefe's death.