The Brief
- An off-duty Phoenix police sergeant is under internal investigation after counter-protesting a student-led anti-ICE demonstration in Chandler while armed and masked.
- Police reports allege Sergeant Dusten Mullen explicitly stated his goal was to provoke juvenile protesters into assaulting him so they could be arrested.
- While a teenage girl was initially detained for allegedly throwing water on Mullen, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to file any charges in the case.
CHANDLER, Ariz. – We’ve learned that an armed man who authorities say created a tense situation for high school students protesting ICE in Chandler is a Phoenix police sergeant. The incident he’s involved in is now under review by the Professional Standards Bureau.
These student walkouts happened a week after federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti on January 24. Pretti was armed with a handgun he legally owned. As for this protest against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Chandler, the armed counter-protester is Dusten Mullen, a Phoenix PD community action sergeant with the Sound Mountain Precinct who was off-duty. According to this Chandler report, his goal was to get juvenile protesters to assault him.
The backstory:…