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Petition Calls For Firing Springfield Cop Over Charlottesville Comments

    Calls are mounting for the firing of a police officer in Springfield, Massachusetts who made light of the violence in Charlottesville.

      Hundreds of people from around the country have posted critical comments to the Springfield Police Department’s Facebook page, and an online petition has been created calling for the dismissal of patrolman Conrad Lariviere. 

      On his own Facebook page Sunday, Lariviere mocked the anti-racism protestors who had been run down by a car.

      His comments have been widely condemned by local officials including Mayor Domenic Sarno.

      " I am very upset about this incident and we will pursue it to the letter of the law," vowed Sarno.

      Lariviere, who has been on the force since 2014, has been removed from street patrols pending the outcome of the internal investigation.         

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.