Cop accused of helping to plan Charlottesville rally is decertified

A former Woburn, Massachusetts police officer accused of helping plan a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been decertified by the state's law enforcement licensing commission, The East Bay Times reported.

The decertification of John Donnelly marks the first time an officer was decertified under a 2020 police reform law that was passed in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

“The respondent John Donnelly has entered into a voluntary decertification agreement under which he has agreed to the revocation of his certification as a law enforcement officer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the entry of his decertification in the National Decertification Index,” the order reads.

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Woburn Police Chief Robert Rufo Jr. said that Donnelly was first put on leave in October 2022 after his department learned that Donnelly “allegedly participated in and was active in the planning of the so-called ‘Unite the Right’ rally.” Donnelly resigned from his post days after he was suspended and “prior to the conclusion of its internal investigation into this matter and prior to the imposition of any discipline."

Read the full story over at The Easy Bay Times.