Massachusetts Police Officer Laughs At Charlottesville Car Crash Death Amid Outrage

A Massachusetts police officer used Facebook to applaud the car crash that killed an anti-racist counter-protester at a Saturday white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, reported MassLive Sunday.

“Hahahaha love this, maybe people shouldn’t block roads,” Conrad Lariviere, a police officer in Springfield, commented on a Facebook post linking to a news article about the car crash. Ben Shapiro, the user who posted the article, described the crash as “Disgusting.”

Lariviere responded to his own comment, saying, “How do you know he was a nazi scumbag? Stop being part of the problem.”

Users followed up his comments with statements such as, “Are you serious? A person DIED. 19 other people were injured, some badly. You ‘love’ this?’” Another comment asked, “How many times has a car plowed into you, Conrad?”

Lariviere then said, “Actually, I’ve been hit by a s—bag with warrants but who cares right you ignorant brat live in fantasy land with the rest of America while I deal with the real danger.”

Heather Heyer, 32, was hit by a car that crashed into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Nineteen other people were injured in the crash. The rally occurred as a response to the proposed removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. A 20-year-old Ohio man named James Alex Fields Jr. was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after the crash.

Springfield Police Commissioner John Barbieri was informed of Lariviere’s Facebook comments and said the department would launch an internal investigation.

“I received notification of this Facebook post earlier today via email from a complainant. The post is purportedly from Springfield police officer,” Barbieri said in an email to MassLive. “I took immediate steps to initiate a prompt and thorough internal investigation. If in face this post did originate from an officer employed with the Springfield Police Department, this matter will be reviewed by the Community Police Hearings Board for further action.”

Lariviere apologized for his comments, calling them “stupid.”

“Never would I want someone to get murdered. I am not a racist and don’t believe in what any of those protesters are doing,” he said to MassLive. “I’m a good man who made a stupid comment and would just like to be left alone.”

The comments and the original post have since been deleted.

Police Commissioner John Barbieri received multiple calls demanding Lariviere’s firing and a Change.org petition requests he be removed from his post. He was relocated from patrolling the streets to completing jobs in the Springfield police station pending the results of the investigation.