A federal judge has cleared the way for the Phoenix police chief to discipline a sergeant for his off-duty behavior at a student protest against ICE in Chandler.
Phoenix police Sgt. Dusten Mullen has been on paid leave for weeks while internal investigators review if he made false statements to Chandler police, behaved unprofessionally or provoked protesters.
A discipline hearing was scheduled for Monday, but a federal judge nixed it so she could weigh whether to put the discipline process on hold and order more investigation.
Now the judge has denied Mullen’s request to do so, writing that it’s entirely speculative that he faces getting fired.
Mullen was put on leave by Chief Matt Giordano, who has said he will review the investigation findings.
