The Massachusetts woman accused of fatally running over her boyfriend, a police officer, in January 2022 claims the blame was placed on her.

Karen Read, 44, came forward to the media for the first time this week, speaking to ABC’s “20/20” about what she called a police conspiracy to blame her for the mysterious death of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe.

Read is accused of running over the 46-year-old police officer with her SUV and leaving him for dead outside a friend’s house after a night of drinking. O’Keefe was supposed to drive to a party at the residence of retired police officer Brian Albert.

Accused Massachusetts police officer Karen Read compares her supporters to Vietnam War protesters after mistrial

Karen Read listens as Judge Beverly J. Cannone greets the jury at the start of the third day of deliberations in her murder trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP)

Read and two friends reportedly drove to Albert’s house to search for O’Keefe and found his body early the next morning.

“I jumped out of the passenger seat and fell into the street. His eyes were closed and he had blood spots on his face in different places and he was calm – not stiff, but calm,” Read told “20/20” about the discovery of her boyfriend’s body the next day. “It was cold. I was cold, but not dangerously cold, and it was just a weird feeling knowing, ‘I’m OK. I’m not dying, but he’s here with me and he’s dying and I can’t warm him up.'”

The defense has made the astonishing claim that O’Keefe was fatally injured in an altercation at the house party and left outside to be framed for the crime as part of an interdepartmental conspiracy.

Lawyers point to the precise location of the injuries on the victim’s body – trauma to the head and hands – as evidence that he was attacked and not hit by a large vehicle.

Karen Read arrives at the Massachusetts courthouse amid a sea of ​​“cop killer” chants and supporters fighting to have the case dismissed

This undated photo released by the Boston Police Department shows Officer John O’Keefe. (Boston Police Department via AP)

One piece of evidence at the heart of the case against Read is a broken taillight on the back of her Lexus SUV. Shards of red plastic matching one such taillight were found on O’Keefe’s body at the crime scene.

Other considerations include her blood alcohol level well above the legal limit and angry voicemails Read left on the victim’s phone accusing her of infidelity and expressing his “hatred” for her.

Read described to “20/20” the moment she met O’Keefe’s parents and realized they suspected her of murder.

“They had pulled into the driveway in front of me. I assumed she saw my broken taillight and wondered, ‘Did you hit my son?'” Read said. “As we drove home, I said to my dad, ‘I need to get a lawyer.'”

“Is it possible that you accidentally hit him with your admittedly very large SUV?” asked interviewer Matt Guttman.

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Supporters of Karen Read gather on the steps outside the Land Registry building. ( (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images))

“No,” replied Read. “Not possible.”

Read is accused of second-degree murder and negligent homicide. She went to trial in July, which ended in a mistrialThe public prosecutor plans to retry her in January.

The bizarre and convoluted trial is even more remarkable considering the public reaction it provoked: the case attracted large crowds of protesters on both sides.

“You are brave,” Read told a group of supporters after the mistrial, according to footage from WCVB. “They would have protested the Vietnam War and ended it. And this is the modern equivalent of that, so thank you all.”

Fox News Digital’s Mollie Markowitz contributed to this report.