A federal judge is once again weighing whether to intervene on behalf of a former Phoenix police sergeant fired for his behavior at an anti-ICE student protest in January.
Dusten Mullen was recently fired by the Phoenix police chief after spending weeks on paid leave during an internal investigation.
Now Mullen is asking to be put back on paid leave and for the judge to consider whether he was retaliated against for exercising his right to free expression.
Lawyers for the chief and the city write that Mullen was fired for behavior unrelated to protected speech. They also write that his having gone masked and armed to a student protest in Chandler intending to provoke crime was antithetical to the Police Department’s core values.
Read Mullen's filing
Read the Phoenix police response
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