Karen Read’s throngs of well-wishers have adopted a special, silent hand gesture to show their support for the Massachusetts woman who had been charged with the murder of her Boston cop boyfriend.
And it’s got a pretty simple explanation.
The gesture is just the American Sign Language sign for “I love you,” which Read’s attorneys begged her pink-clad supporters to use instead of cheers and chants as they welcomed her in and out of the courthouse.
Read was acquitted on Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge after she was accused of leaving boyfriend John O’Keefe to die in a 2022 snowstorm after hitting him with her car outside a suburban Boston house party.
She left the courtroom with a mere drunk driving conviction — much to the delight of the crowd, who celebrated with the “I love you” sign.
Read and her attorneys, who had begged her rowdy supporters to mind their Ps and Qs while the court was in session, flashed “I love you” right back.
Read’s father, William Read, discussed his daughter’s massive following, which she garnered as the twisty New England crime drama unfolded. “All of these folks here, hundreds and hundreds of supporters. It’s all about fighting back. It’s about the corruption that has put us in this position,” CBS quoted William Read as saying.
