Art Board Member Ousted after 'Mixed Feelings' Facebook Post about Trooper's Death

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI—The Courthouse Center for the Arts has cut ties with a woman who said in a Facebook post that she had "mixed feelings" about the death of Massachusetts State Trooper Thomas Clardy because he once made her late for a birthday party after a traffic stop.

Victoria Stankiewicz attracted scorn for her post in which she said that Clardy "pulled me over en route to my 30th birthday party (and hassled me a bunch)."

"Mixed feelings," she said. "Poor guy. Lived and died by the speed-trap, eh?"

• See also: MA State Police Investigate Trooper Clardy Fundraising Scam

Stankiewicz posted under the name Victoria Norris and her post was screen captured and put front and center on the Turtleboy Sports website, a popular blog and news site based in Massachusetts. From there, the post was widely shared and and condemned for being insensitive and shockingly self-absorbed.

On Monday, Courthouse Center for the Arts announced that it convened an emergency meeting of its board members to remove Stankiewicz from the board "and to discontinue any further affiliation by her with our organization."

"Her opinions are appalling and do not represent what our organization stands for. Our decision to remove her from the Board and reject her opinions was immediate and unanimous," the center said in a statement. "The Courthouse Center for the Arts respects and supports our community in every way, including supporting our military, law enforcement, firemen, rescue and emergency responders of all kinds, and their families. We will not tolerate or condone anyone affiliated with our organization making hateful remarks about the heroes of our community. We thank Officer Clardy for his service and extend our condolences, thoughts and prayers to his family, friends and co-workers, may he rest in peace."

The board's action came a day before Clardy was due to be laid to rest. Thousands of law enforcement officials from across the region are attending the services.

Clardy was killed last Wednesday when he was parked on the Mass. Pike and was struck by a driver. He was 44.

The full statement is below:

The Courthouse Center for the Arts would like to publicly address a terrible situation involving one of our former board...

Posted by Courthouse Center for the Arts on Monday, March 21, 2016