Overview
- U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich denied Sgt. Dusten Mullen’s request to halt discipline, clearing Phoenix Police to continue its internal process.
- The ruling allows the department to schedule a Loudermill hearing, a pre-termination meeting where a public employee can answer the allegations.
- Lt. Byron Bewley testified that the Professional Standards Bureau review felt rushed, said he was denied more time, and said his commander told him to raise the alleged violations to Class 3.
- In her order, the judge wrote that investigators analyzed the evidence and said claims of imminent firing were speculative, while city attorneys say the three-month review was fair and no decision has been made.
- The case stems from January, when Mullen showed up masked and armed at a Chandler student walkout and told officers he planned to bait teens into assaulting him; a student arrested for splashing water was not prosecuted.