The Woburn Police Department says it has placed one of its officers on paid leave after learning that he allegedly participated in and helped plan the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Mayor Scott Galvin and Police Chief Robert Rufo announced in a press release Thursday that Officer John Donnelly was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation into "allegations of inappropriate conduct."
Rufo said he recently learned that Donnelly allegedly participated in "and was active in the planning of" the August 2017 "Unite the Right" rally, which 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.
Donnelly was a reserve officer at the time of his alleged participation in the Charlottesville rally. Woburn officials did not specify in their release how long he served as a reserve officer or what his current role is.
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As soon as he learned of Donnelly's alleged role Wednesday afternoon, Rufo said he placed the officer on leave and ordered the internal affairs review. Donnelly will remain on leave until the review is completed.
Donnelly was hired in 2015 as a reserve officer, being appointed as a full-time officer this August.
It was not immediately clear whether Donnelly had an attorney.
Hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville on Aug. 11 and 12, 2017, ostensibly to protest the city’s plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. During a march on the University of Virginia campus, white nationalists surrounded counterprotesters, shouted antisemitic remarks and threw burning tiki torches at them. The next day, an avowed admirer of Nazism and Adolf Hitler rammed his car into a crowd, killing one woman and injuring 19 others.
"The Charlottesville rally is a dark moment in our history, and deeply disturbing," Galvin said in a statement. "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.”
“What was said and done in Charlottesville is in direct opposition to the core values of the Woburn Police Department, to serve all members of our community equally and treat them with dignity and respect,” added Rufo. “Should this allegation be sustained, the Woburn Police Department will ask Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to decertify Officer Donnelly, ensuring he may no longer serve in law enforcement in Massachusetts.”
