AP: Virginia police chief retires after criticism over rally
The first African-American police chief of Charlottesville, Virginia, abruptly resigned Monday, about two weeks after a scathing independent review criticized his “slow-footed response”
Charlottesville police chief Al Thomas has stepped down. His resignation comes less than three weeks after U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy released a report harshly criticizing the police department’s response to this summer’s Unite the Right white supremacist rally that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer. As the event escalated into violence, according to Heaphy’s report, Thomas said, “Let them fight, it will make it easier to declare an unlawful assembly.”