FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2017, file photo, counter demonstrator Corey Long points a lighted aerosol spray towards a white nationalist demonstrator at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va. Long, a black counterprotester is no longer appealing his conviction for using an improvised flamethrower during the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Citing court documents, news outlets report that Long dropped his appeal Jan. 10, two weeks before a hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

2017 rally counterprotester with flamethrower drops appeal

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A black counterprotester is no longer appealing his conviction for using an improvised flamethrower during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

News outlets report that court documents show Corey Long dropped his appeal Thursday, two weeks before a hearing in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

An Associated Press photographer captured an image of Long spraying a lighted aerosol can toward a man wielding a flagpole during the deadly Aug. 12, 2017, rally. The image went viral.

Long said he used the makeshift flamethrower to protect himself from advancing rally participants who were yelling slurs.

Long was found guilty of misdemeanour disorderly conduct June 8 and ordered to serve 20 days in jail. He’ll instead serve a total of 10 days in jail, served over the course of five weekends starting Feb. 1.

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