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Woburn cop suspended in investigaton into his role in organizing 2017 white-supremacist tiki rally in Charlottesville that left one woman dead
By adamg on Thu, 10/13/2022 - 1:18pm
John Donnelly, a Woburn cop, was put on paid administrative leave today as the city investigated his role in planning the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA that featured a march by white supremacists holding tiki lamps and the death of a counter-protester at the hands of one of the Nazis.
According to the Woburn Police Department, Chief Robert Rufo Jr.:
[R]ecently learned that Officer John Donnelly allegedly participated in and was active in the planning of the so-called "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017. Participants included members of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups and the Ku Klux Klan, some of whom carried weapons and chanted racist and antisemitic slogans.
Upon learning about the officer’s role, Chief Rufo acted immediately, placing the officer on leave and ordering an internal affairs review. The officer will remain on leave until the review is completed. Officer Donnelly was a reserve officer at the time of his alleged participation in the Charlottesville rally.
In a statement, Mayor Scott Galvin said:
The Charlottesville rally is a dark moment in our history, and deeply disturbing. The City of Woburn is taking these allegations seriously by investigating the incident thoroughly and I will move to terminate Officer Donnelly if the investigation concludes that the allegations are accurate.
Rufo added that if the allegation is true, he will ask the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to decertify Donnelly, which will bar him from working in law enforcement in the state.
HuffPost reports Donnelly served as a bodyguard for human punching bag Richard Spencer:
[O]n the morning of Aug. 12, 2017, Donnelly could be seen on video arriving at the Charlottesville rally with Richard Spencer, a prominent white supremacist for whom Donnelly was apparently acting as a security guard. Spencer, Donnelly and a coterie of other suit-and-tie fascists worked their way into a city park where they held court beneath a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, posing for photos and talking into livestreams.
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Comments
Put that organ away
"organzing"?
Fixed.
Thanks.
Oh come on
You have to understand, for the past 5 years they just thought he was a garden-variety racist in their ranks. Only recently did they learn he did something publicly memorably racist like the Unite the Right rally. And that's embarassing if anyone found out they knew about that and didn't do anything, so it was time to take action.
"Some of those that work
"Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses"
Only "some"?
Only "some"?
Subpoena
the dirtbag’s emails, and personal phone. I’m sure they’ll find evidence that more than a few of his like-minded brothers-in-blue in that Dept. share his love of nazis.
According to HuffPo
He only had action taken against him because HuffPo came asking the department with receipts.
In the article they have his own posts on Nazi forums bragging about "redpilling" a taxi driver while in Charlottesville. You think he didn't redpill anyone at Woburn PD? And they did nothing.
The whole department is probably up to it's red hat in Nazis.
Here is the thing with this new POST commission:
You don’t need to “sustain” a finding of anything to ask the commission to decertify an officer. You just need to send the commission a report saying the officer is of “bad moral character” (or some verbiage to that effect) and the commission can just decertify them.
By doing what Woburn is doing now they are simply setting themselves for a lawsuit by actually firing him. I’d say there’s a 50% chance he gets his job back and sues and wins (not knowing exactly what he did in this March).
The point is the commission (and departments) has absolute power to decertify him with the Chiefs request.
He hasn't been fired yet though?
It says he's been placed on leave pending an investigation. Not sure where you're getting "he's been fired" here. Even the "we'll talk to the POST commission" is "depending on the results of the investigation".
Also, it's telling that you're jumping in here to complain about the POST commission and go to bat for the guy trying to lead an insurrection rather than, you know, say something about the many cops who worked with this guy and supposedly had no idea any of this was going on...
Because I have no clue about the Woburn PD
And neither do you. But I do know what POST can do, and if they do it they can save taxpayers a lot of money. Not that you care about anything except looking like you care anonymously.
Not true Pete
I also care that making sure people going to bat for corrupt cops actually read the post that they're replying to. You know, the one where you keep ignoring that there's going to be an investigation?
Oh ok I hear ya.
Well since the feds or VA police or whomever did the investigations down there never found this guy or determined that he committed any crimes, I doubt the Woburn police are going to find anything this guy did besides exercise his 1st amendment rights. So I’m my mind the “investigation” isn’t going to find much although I bet they will fire the guy based on the results. Then the cop will have tons of case law backing him up (and civil service too if they are civil service) that he keeps his job and makes some money as well.
But that’s just my prediction and I elaborated above. I’m just saying the Woburn police doesn’t need ti sustain a complaint to fire the guy. The law gives them an easier way to do it.
Bullshit
I got your case law right here.
https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2022/05/12/court-rules-appeal-...
Racist cops degrade the government's ability to do its job. We don't have to keep them...at all.
I agree with you Kaz
That he should be removed. But you are citing a red state/non union/non civil service case. They can fire you down there for not shaving. In Woburn though? I'm guessing it's like Boston where you can call your employees racial slurs twice before getting fired on the third time. And like I said it is 50/50 from what we have here. I'm telling you there is an easier way to remove him.
Ok Officer
The "VA police" is likely packed full of white-supremacists too, so I doubt they did any kind of "investigation," but that's neither here nor there.
The Huffington Post helpfully has some examples of Officer Donnelly racistly "exercising his first amendment rights" that already show he cannot effectively represent the community in a public service job. You should read the article.
I read it.
And it is still 100% easier to fire him with POST laws than it is to gamble with civil service and MA police labor contracts.
Quibble maybe?
He was not (afaik) at the Capitol on 1/6/21. He was at Charlottesville, which I guess was technically kinda not an insurrection???