A Massachusetts police officer, who sparked national outrage over his Facebook comments on an article about the deadly car attack on counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, has been fired.

Springfield Police Commissioner John Barbieri announced the firing Friday, telling local media that the officer, Conrad Lariviere, was determined to have "impaired the operation of the Springfield Police Department" and "discredited the department."

Lariviere drew national attention to himself and the department when he posted comments to his personal Facebook on Aug. 12 in response to an article about a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, in which a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 other people.

"Hahahaha love this, maybe people shouldn't block road ways," Lariviere wrote on Facebook, according to a screenshot of the comments.

When someone in the Facebook thread called Lariviere out for the comment, the officer responded: "You ignorant brat live in a fantasy land with the rest of America while I deal with the real danger."

The comments drew widespread backlash after they were noticed online, and prompted thousands of people to sign a petition calling for the officer's firing.