The Phoenix Police Department fired Dusten Mullen on Thursday, months after he showed up armed at a protest outside a high school and said he planned to let students attack him.
PHOENIX (CN) – A Phoenix police officer who showed up armed at a high school protest and told other officers he planned to “just let everybody attack me,” asked a federal judge Monday to overturn his termination from the force.
Phoenix Police Department dismissed Sergeant Dusten Mullen Thursday, revealing that he intended to provoke teenagers to commit violent crimes and that he lied to a Chandler police officer and his supervisor. In a Phoenix court hearing, his attorney said Mullen’s termination violates his right to due process and undermines the First Amendment rights of police officers everywhere.
said attorney Steven Serbalik Mullen never intended to incite students to violence and that the statement that led to his termination was taken “out of proportion” by “political involvement and a misleading media angle.”
“His reputation is being destroyed and the city of Phoenix is sending a message,” Serbalik said.
Mullen says he initially went to Hamilton High School to pick up his son, but stayed because he was irritated by a student walkout protesting ICE enforcement across the country. In a surveillance video juxtaposed with Mullen’s cellphone footage, played for U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich, Mullen asks the students, who are yelling at him, if they want to talk. IN another videotells them to grow up.
In the video played in court, a police officer tells Chandler to leave the area because he is provoking students. He later tells another officer that he was assaulted and asks that officer to arrest the students. That officer tells Mullen they need to leave the immediate area to get a police report. As they leave the crowd, Mullen says:
“My plan is legitimately to let them all attack me, and you guys arrest them all. I’m going to keep it on film. I have other people filming from a distance, so my goal would be to put all these kids in jail if they want to break the law.”
Serbalik said Mullen made that statement out of frustration only after he was ignored by Chandler police.
“You saw this activity on video,” Serbalik said. “It shows that there is no incitement. There is no provocation.”
But if Mullen was only there to pick up his children from school, City Attorney Stephen Coleman questioned why he approached the crowd with a mask over his face and a handgun and extra magazines on his hip.
“I think it goes with his mind and his purpose when he shows up like that,” Coleman said. “He was there to provoke people to carry out attacks against him.”
Before deciding to fire Mullen, Serbalik said the city never considered the video he played for Brnovich, nor did it consider the two-hour presentation Mullen gave to set the record straight on the situation.
Mullen requested a temporary restraining order turning his termination into paid leave to alleviate the irreparable harm he says he suffered.
Coleman said provocation was just one of three offenses that led to the termination.
He said Mullen lied to a Chandler police officer when he told him there were “30 people armed with long guns” on their way to the protest to support him.
“A lie is basically a career killer,” Coleman said, adding that Mullen knew such a threat would put officers on high alert and risk the department allocating resources to respond.
Serbalik said Mullen made that statement because “he wanted people to believe there was support coming” and he didn’t think Chandler police would protect him from the students.
Coleman said Mullen also lied to his supervisor when he called in the incident, intentionally omitting the fact that he was armed and the fact that he stayed at the school after his son had left.
Coleman said Mullen was given his due process rights when he was given a hearing before the city. Whether the city will be convinced by the evidence presented at that hearing is up to him.
“He has no right to the outcome he wants,” Coleman said.
Because the challenged action is a single employment action and not a generally adopted policy, Coleman said Mullen cannot argue that it will curb the free speech rights of others. He added that the record is unclear whether Mullen engaged in protected speech at all, suggesting he simply provoked students without declaring or supporting a political cause.
Serbalik said wearing a Trump shirt at an ICE protest is a clear political statement.
Brnovich, an appointee of Donald Trump, said the order is rare in an employment action because there is usually no irreparable harm. Relief is always available in the form of back pay and other damages if the plaintiff wins at trial.
Serbalik said Mullen faces irreparable reputational damage because of the news surrounding the case. He said the story is currently being used against him in family court and could be used to reduce or eliminate custody of his son.
Brnovich said she will take the matter under advisement.
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