Rutland police probe sergeant’s Facebook post that offended slay victim's kin

Rutland police are investigating a photo that a sergeant posted to Facebook outside O’Connor’s Restaurant & Bar in Worcester that has offended family members of the woman who was murdered there last week.

Chief Nicholas A. Monaco confirmed he opened an internal investigation after being alerted to the posting and speaking to a family member of Amanda Dabrowski.

Ms. Dabrowski was stabbed to death in the restaurant Wednesday by a man authorities say was an ex-boyfriend.

On Sunday, Erin Ethier, Ms. Dabrowski’s cousin, posted to Facebook a screenshot of a photo that shows Rutland Sgt. Troy Chauvin posing, with two fingers over his mouth, in front of O’Connor’s in Worcester.

Ms. Ethier was offended by the photo, which appears to have been removed from Sgt. Chauvin’s page, as well as by comments others said they saw posted underneath.

Denise LaBaire, a family friend of the Dabrowskis who said she also knows Sgt. Chauvin, said in an interview Monday that she saw inappropriate comments underneath the photo.

Ms. LaBaire said that someone had posted a comment questioning whether it was too soon for that kind of photo, and that Sgt. Chauvin had posted a response in which he said “never” and added multiple “lol” phrases.

While Ms. Ethier took a screenshot of the photo itself – with an indication that there were 10 comments – she said the post was deleted by the time she went to get screenshots of the comments themselves.

Ms. Ethier provided a screenshot of a follow-up message that she said Sgt. Chauvin posted to Facebook in which he said it was “honestly not my intention” to poke fun at what occurred.

In the post, Sgt. Chauvin wrote that he should have captioned the photo to reflect sentiment that he needed to “sink some money into the front of O’Chauvin’s to keep up with O’Connor’s.”

The post did not detail what Sgt. Chauvin meant by “O’Chauvins.” It appeared to be accompanied by photos alluding to an establishment named “O’Chauvins.”

Sgt. Chauvin wrote in the post that he “can not control what some people have posted and I apologize for that as well,” ending by saying that people who do not like what he posts can defriend him.

Neither the original post nor the follow-up post was visible on Sgt. Chauvin’s public Facebook profile Monday.

Chief Monaco confirmed Monday that the account in question is Sgt. Chauvin’s account. He declined to speak about the situation in detail, citing the ongoing internal investigation. He confirmed that he spoke to Ms. Ethier Monday morning.

“We do offer our sincerest condolences to the Dabrowski family,” Chief Monaco said.

Sgt. Chauvin did not respond to a Facebook message Monday seeking comment. Chief Monaco said his officers are directed to not speak publicly about matters under investigation.

Ms. Ethier said her family is not taking the issue lightly.

“I just feel like this was distasteful, that someone in law enforcement, who we’re told to respect, is not respecting our family, or this incident,” she said.

“It’s unfortunate that someone who is supposed to protect us is mocking such a tragedy to our family.”

Sgt. Chauvin is one of three sergeants in Rutland who report directly to Chief Monaco, as there is no lieutenant.

Chief Monaco said Sgt. Chauvin has been on the force for about 14 years and has “very good” service records.

Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG.