Officer in shooting resigned previously

The officer involved in Arizona’s first police shooting of 2019 is being investigated by the agency from which he was forced to resign six years ago.

Officer Richard Mueller of the Miami Police Department generated headlines the evening of Jan. 5 when he shot 29year-old Chaz Barcon, who police say fled a traffic stop.

A Jan. 10 statement from the Miami Police Department said Mueller was placed on administrative leave — common protocol after a police shooting — and that the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office would lead the investigation.

Mueller and the PCSO already have a history.

Mueller had been a PCSO deputy from 2009 until 2013. He resigned after getting into a fight and fleeing from a bar’s security personnel and responding officers, according to documents from the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board — often referred to as AZPOST.

The records say an intoxicated Mueller was arguing with a man outside the Firehouse Bar in Tempe in October 2012 and shouted expletives and threats at security staff when they told him to leave.

Surveillance video showed the fight between Mueller and the man reignited in an alley behind the bar about 15 minutes later. The man, referred to only as “Mr. PB,” told police he was trying to protect a female friend from Mueller, whom he accused of hitting on her.

The report said footage showed Mr. PB approaching Mueller, who raised his arm out to block the man from proceeding. Mr. PB swiped Mueller’s hand down when Mueller punched him in the face with his other arm.

Mueller fled as the bar’s security staff and Tempe officers pursued him, the report said. Tempe police found Mueller inside his vehicle at a nearby parking lot and took him into custody. He was issued a citation accusing him of disorderly conduct and released, documents say.

The report includes statements from a Tempe police sergeant who said Mueller was “intoxicated, argumentative and disrespectful” toward officers and said that he wouldn’t report the incident if another officer had done the same thing within Pinal County.

Mueller entered a plea agreement in March 2013. The criminal charge was dismissed after he completed an adult diversion program, records show.

AZPOST, which handles the certifications that allow someone to serve as a law enforcement officer in Arizona, found that Mueller had violated several department policies, but let him choose to resign from the sheriff ’s office instead of being terminated. The agency suspended Mueller’s peace officer certification for two years.