PHOENIX — A Phoenix police sergeant and a statewide law enforcement organization are suing the city, the police chief, and a city council member — claiming the department retaliated against the officer for attending an off-duty protest.
Sergeant Dusten Mullen and the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs—known as AZCOPS—filed the federal lawsuit Sunday in the United States District Court in Arizona.
The complaint alleges the Phoenix Police Department violated Mullen’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and bypassed its own disciplinary procedures after he attended a student protest in Chandler while off-duty in January…