CHANDLER, AZ — The Phoenix Police Department is investigating the involvement of an off-duty sergeant in a late January high school walkout, which escalated to the arrest of one teenager.
A Chandler police report revealed that Sergeant Dusten Mullen showed up to the ICE protest run by Hamilton High School students fully armed and masked.
The report goes on to say that Mullen confronted students and that despite recommending he move to avoid further escalation.
“While walking to the Tahoe, the male stated, ‘My…my plan is legitimately to just let them all assault me and you guys arrest them all and I’ll keep it on film. I also have other people filming from a distance. So my goal (unintelligible) to get all these kids in jail if they want to break the law,’” the report said.
Chandler Councilmember OD Harris is now calling for Mullen’s termination.
“The children have the right to protest. No one is saying you shouldn’t have a first amendment rights, but you showed up with loaded guns to a kid protest,” Harris said. “Law enforcement is trained to understand how to de-escalate… He’s using the opposite to escalate.” {read}