One day in late October 2024, a 15-year-old boy called 911 after a scuffle with his father, Buckeye police officer David Ellison.
Ellison, who worked as a school resource officer at Verrado High School in Buckeye, had returned to their Goodyear home drunk, and the pair had argued. The father shoved his son outside and locked him out, and the son retaliated by punching and denting Ellison’s truck. That brought Ellison running out onto the patio, threatening to kill his son if he touched the truck again. Ellison then headbutted his son, who tried to push him away. The father grabbed his kid by the neck, choking him and punching him multiple times and causing him to “bleed from the nose and mouth,” before throwing the boy to the ground.
Last week, this harrowing scene was described by a compliance specialist to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board at its March meeting. Known as AZPOST, the board licenses all law enforcement officers in the state and is one of the few agencies with the power to discipline officers. The 12-person board includes Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Director Ryan Thornell, representatives from multiple sheriff’s and police agencies around the state and newly appointed Arizona State University professor James Wright, who replaced Phoenix City Councilmember Kevin Robinson…