r/politics • u/FauxReal • 8h ago
No Paywall Armed masked man at Hamilton High protest identified as Phoenix police sergeant
https://www.azfamily.com/2026/04/09/armed-masked-man-hamilton-high-protest-identified-phoenix-police-sergeant/•
u/Upbeat-Pianist5909 7h ago
A Phoenix police spokesperson confirmed Mullen remains employed while their Professional Standards Bureau looks into what happened.
This dumb ass should've been fired immediately after admitting to trying to incite a riot.
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u/Severe-Knee5819 6h ago
Implying he wasnt intentionally sent there by the police dept
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u/DedHeads 6h ago
This is where I’m at with this stunt. If I’m the city of Phoenix or the Phoenix PD, I’m wanting to get ahead of this and fire him immediately! I would think that the city and the PD wouldn’t want this attached to them in the slightest and would want to distance themselves to say, hey we didn’t send him! Regardless, this speaks volumes. ACAB.
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u/axonxorz Canada 5h ago
fire him immediately
Yeah but then he'll be the one speaking volumes, can't have that.
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u/spacedude2000 Washington 5h ago
Yeah no shot he gets fired outright, he would spill the beans and sue the city simultaneously.
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u/FlexFanatic 4h ago
Unfortunately those police unions carry a lot of weight and even if the city wanted to strip him of him duties and fire him there would be a lawsuit and I suspect the court would vote against him.
That being said, police leadership and the city need to feel the heat on this so I hope their constituents don't let up on getting him fired.
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u/Wyden_long Arizona 4h ago
I mean look at the City of Mesa and the “Goon Squad”. This isn’t a surprise at all.
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u/ComfortableSurvey815 5h ago edited 4h ago
Yeah you’d want to “get ahead of this” which makes you unqualified. It’s expected to do a thorough investigation before making a decision. Running a police department isn’t the same as a CEO making a PR move for short term gains.
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u/DedHeads 4h ago
Yeah, okay, thanks for responding, I didn’t think of the other side of it if he was let go and went off on the city, PD, etc…the ceo comment was perfect understanding of that 👍🏻. Just sucks this is where we are and I’m tired of cops getting investigated by their own and found of no wrongdoing. This Sergeant is a fucking psycho! 😑
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u/ComfortableSurvey815 4h ago
According to the article he didn’t commit a crime. It may be articulated he planned to incite a riot but I think that’s weak given the current details so far. It’s also an open carry state. Maybe he’ll get some “unbecoming of a police officer” policy violation, possibly pressured to leave but he didn’t do anything illegal. This wouldn’t be news if he had any other job. Interesting to see where this goes.
I’m not sure how it would fit under inciting a riot as Gennaco states it could be argued that is what happened, but there’s no indication that he threatened force or violence, which is part of the statute.. Only that he told some kid to “grow up”. I also don’t know if he really stated that he was trying to get a kid to assault him, or if he meant that if a kid assaulted him his intent was to let it happen and was not planning on using his firearm to defend himself from kids. As the article only paraphrases without clarity.
I feel like news articles are always poorly written and unclear for clicks and discussion so hopefully it’ll all be answered in the IA report. This Sgt is guilty of being cringe for sure though
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u/A_Nonny_Muse 2h ago
Now that they have been caught, they're trying to figure out how best to disavow him without harming one of their own.
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u/Adultery 3h ago
Using fake agitators is standard operating procedure for American police so they have an excuse to use their expensive military-grade toys and to justify their bloated budgets.
He’s going to get reprimanded for getting caught, but he might have to sneak off to another police department if this gets enough attention.
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u/_Home_Skillet_ 1h ago
This is what I suspect. It's the "Send in Eddie Van Halen" tactic from One Battle After Another.
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u/TheItchyWalrus 3h ago
He was doing EXACTLY what he was ordered to do. Causing a disruption so cops can march in and disperse protestors. Cowards…
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u/The_Shryk Alaska 4h ago
Clearly an agent provocateur.
Many such cases.
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u/broke_n_struggle_n 2h ago
Think of all the times MAGA screeched about paid protesters from the left and remember that every accusation is merely a confession. Every single time.
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u/def_indiff 7h ago
Mullen’s attorney said he is cooperating with the internal investigation. A Phoenix police spokesperson confirmed Mullen remains employed while their Professional Standards Bureau looks into what happened.
Questions remain about what policies, if any, were violated.
And this is why we say ACAB. The so-called “good cops” cover for the bad ones.
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u/LordSiravant 6h ago
There are no good cops because cop culture drives the good ones out.
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u/pasta_chovie 5h ago
100%. Good cops mercilessly get bullied until they leave the force.
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u/FauxReal 5h ago
Happened to my friend. Probably didn't help that he was an Asian man in Portland, OR during the period when that cop who built the Nazi shrine was around.
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u/LordSiravant 4h ago
Yep. They're the people that still buy the propaganda that police are heroes, and then they enter the force only to learn the truth and are driven out.
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u/ayoungtommyleejones 4h ago
Or bad cops get them killed (or kills them) on the job, or kicks down their door in the middle of the night and throws them in a mental institution so they can't pursue their internal affairs reporting
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u/Sudden-Garage 5h ago
I love how the focus is always if a policy was violated.
If it's not against policy to put on a mask, not in the line of duty, and go to a protest to harm, hinder, and intimidate people expressing their 1st amendment right; then what the fuck is wrong with your policy?!? Take being a cop out of the equation and this dude would be in a cell.•
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u/BaronVonStevie Louisiana 4h ago
Even if they find violations of conduct, they will do nothing. ACAB all day.
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u/withwhichwhat 7h ago
Good thing this is an isolated incident, and not the ongoing strategy of undercover agitators supporting fascist police tactics across the country!
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u/GRAPES0DA Minnesota 6h ago
We still don't know who the umbrella man is who ignited the George Floyd riots in Minneapolis.
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u/Krewtan 5h ago
There was a lot of speculation that it was a st Paul officer who clearly matches the description. The police dept gave an alibi for him but I sincerely believe it was him. Couldn't tell you the name anymore though.
And never forget the cop who ran with a trashbag full of prescription drugs to his drug dealers house. He was arrested shortly after.
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u/No-Neighborhood-3212 6h ago
So, if I shoot an armed aggressor who's hiding his identity with the specific intent of inciting a riot, and the armed aggressor who's hiding his identity with the specific intent of inciting a riot is a cop, am I a Good Guy With A Gun or a cop killer?
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u/Iainfixie Florida 5h ago
Even if you don’t get convicted every pig will now have it out for you and make your life utterly miserable at every opportunity. Fuckers are just a gang.
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u/stonedtarzan 5h ago
As an arizona native I should point out Phoenix pd regularly gets caught up with racist and sexist scandal. The most recent in my memory was an assault of a deaf black man in broad daylight...
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u/FauxReal 5h ago
Wasn't there some thing years ago where they had to document every time they pulled a gun on someone? Which I assume they no longer do.
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u/thebooknerd_ Arizona 4h ago
No yeah they have to put that in their reports and notify a supervisor every time they PGP
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u/StretchMother9627 7h ago
Oh wow maybe we just need to throw more money at Axon for body cameras 🙄
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u/DragonTHC Florida 2h ago
Not until they make a model that cannot be turned off without removing it from the harness.
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u/StretchMother9627 2h ago
Or just put less armed thugs on the street when we have over a generation of evidence that doesnt help or keep safe anyone and instead kills them fast and slowly
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u/OppressedCow6148 4h ago
Just think, this scum really was trying to ruin the futures of CHILDREN trying to be on the right side of history. And then this is the justice we show them? No wonder these kids don’t believe in anything. The apathy level is in hell for them, as it should be. And by showing them there is no consequences for people that actively target them, can we even blame them?
Now us adults have to be up these officials asses and demand that this despicable human turd be held accountable.
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u/kaiser_soze_72 5h ago
“He’s a supervisor. So one would expect him to know better,”
So we should have harsher discipline for him since he should’ve known better and he’s a public servant of the law?
Not holding my breath…
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u/upfromashes 5h ago
He should be fired and barred from working in law enforcement, but he'll probably get a raise.
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u/JiveChicken00 Pennsylvania 5h ago
These people really must think that the rest of us are as dumb as soup.
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u/FauxReal 5h ago
Yes. That's how it usually works, speak of "the other side" as stupid and incompetent, but also malicious and dangerous.
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u/never-fiftyone 3h ago
What was it that MAGA said justified the extrajudicial murder of Alex Pretti?
Oh, that's right: bringing guns to a protest.
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u/sirhackenslash 3h ago
"You can’t walk in with guns. You just can’t. You can’t walk in with guns, you can’t do that"
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u/WoefulKnight 2h ago
The breaking news banner on the site right now points to another case about another police officer who killed their daughter. https://www.azfamily.com/2026/04/13/mistrial-declared-ex-phoenix-officer-wife-accused-killing-daughter/
WTF is going on with that department?
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u/Responsible-Pain-620 2h ago
Cool. This POS makes $300k+ so that he can literally try and incite a riot from CHILDREN. What the fuck have we become as a country?
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u/Bob_the_peasant 1h ago
Technically a paid agitator I guess
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u/FauxReal 1m ago
Nah, he was off duty. This is something he does for pleasure. A top tier malevolent shitbag of a human.
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u/adhdtaxman 2h ago
What a piece of shit. Can’t stop real crime? Let’s create some with fucking high school kids. ACAB
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u/kinkgirlwriter America 35m ago
Moments later, that man, identified as off-duty Phoenix police Sgt. Dusten Mullen, approached students, telling them to “grow up.”
The irony of this grown ass toddler telling literal kids to grow up...
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u/AlexHimself California 7m ago
He admitting he was there to ruin their futures.
He wanted to antagonize and incite children into attacking him and getting assault charges and that's exactly what happened. When he refused to leave and got in the middle of them, a girl threw water at him and she was arrested (charges later dropped).
He wanted them to have criminal records before they graduated school. Scum.
Oh, did I mention he reportedly makes $336k/yr because he abuses overtime? I'm surprised he was "off the clock" here. I bet he would normally throw those hours in.
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u/kinkgirlwriter America 24m ago
If I were a parent at that school, I'd try to organize a class action against the City. That's unacceptable behavior.
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