Dennis White had served for two days before he was placed on leave because of accusations from two decades ago. He has dismissed them as false and tainted by racism.
Kim Janey, Boston’s acting mayor, announced on Monday that she had terminated the city’s police commissioner, Dennis White, over allegations of domestic abuse that emerged in February, shortly after he was appointed to the job. Ms. Janey has been trying to remove Mr. White since May, when an independent investigation detailed accusations by his former wife that he had hit and threatened to shoot her in 1999 when they were married. Another woman alleged that he had hit her. Mr. White, who was placed on leave when the allegations emerged, has denied wrongdoing and vigorously fought his removal in court. The standoff has pitted Ms. Janey, Boston’s first Black and female mayor, against its second Black police commissioner, who dismissed the allegations against him as false and tainted by racism. On Monday, Ms. Janey said she rejected that argument. “The disparate treatment of Black people in our country is a genuine concern, but let’s be clear: Racism is a burden carried by both men and women of color, and I will not turn a blind eye to domestic violence against Black women, or any women, for that matter,” she said. She condemned Mr. White for failing to express remorse, and said that while he was on leave, he had tried to obstruct the investigation by lingering around Police Headquarters, which she said “fostered a climate of intimidation.
