UPDATE: Jude Travis L. Francis has accepted the resignation of Leslie Anderson, effective immediately.
A Superior Court judge's law clerk who is under fire for comments she made on Facebook about the death of Trooper Anthony Raspa was suspended with pay Tuesday.
According to a report from the Press of Atlantic City, Leslie Anderson, a law clerk for Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Travis L. Francis, posted her comments on the News 12 New Jersey Facebook page in response to a report about Raspa, who was killed over the weekend in an on-duty crash with a deer.
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Anderson's comments have since been removed. One of her comments, however, was captured on screenshot and posted on Facebook.
"Not that sad, and certainly not 'tragic,'" Anderson wrote. "Troopers were probably traveling at a dangerously high speed as per usual. Totally preventable. At least they didn't take any of the citizens they were sworn to serve and protect with them."
In another post, reported by the Press of Atlantic City, Anderson described the praise Raspa was receiving by other commenters for his service as "absurd" and "nonsensical."
"The 'victim's' employment as a state trooper is irrelevant to the circumstances, other than the fact that he injured a fellow trooper and destroyed state property as a result of his recklessness. He wasn't running into a burning building or otherwise acting within the course of his employment at the time of the accident. The outcry and 'thank yous' are absurd, nonsensical, and completely unwarranted. There are people in this country and around the world dying for much less. There is nothing 'tragic' about this. Get over yourselves and your sense of entitlement, people," Anderson said.
She mourned the loss of the deer in another.
"Nonetheless, I agree that it is sad and heart wrenching for the family members left to suffer the consequences of the Trooper's recklessness -- especially for the deer family who lost a mommy or daddy or baby deer," Anderson wrote.
Winnie Comfort, director of communications for the New Jersey judiciary system, told NJ Advance Media Tuesday that Anderson was suspended for two weeks with pay, pending an outcome of an internal investigation.
"It would be premature for me to suggest anything that they will find until after the investigation," Comfort said.
Comfort said she did not know when the posts were made.
She said Francis would not have any comment on the matter.
Raspa was killed Saturday morning when the Crown Victoria patrol car he was driving struck a deer and then veered off into the trees off of Interstate 195 shortly before 1 a.m. in Upper Freehold, authorities have said.
A funeral for Raspa is scheduled for Thursday morning at Saint Matthais Church in Somerset.
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.