Officer Joshua McMullen is one of 10 officers featured in the DivestSPD Protest Pack. You can buy it through our online store by clicking the link below.
Knelt on a man’s neck during the 2020 protests, then berated and cursed at bystanders
McMullen was one of the officers sent to suppress the George Floyd protests on May 30. He responded to a T-Mobile store where a 911 caller reported looting.
Another officer pushed someone to the ground. McMullen grabbed their neck, pushed their face down, and knelt on their neck.
McMullen then shoved a second person to the ground, using his knee to hold them against the concrete. People in the crowd called for McMullen to remove his knee from the person’s neck.
The second officer said, “Get your knee off his neck” and physically moved McMullen’s knee.
Using social media footage, OPA determined that McMullen placed his knee on the neck of the second person, and that this force “was neither necessary nor proportional.”
During the investigation, the OPA found that McMullen cursed at and threatened multiple people, including a parent who was trying to get through to see their family. He told one man he would “fuck him up.”
Repeatedly punched a person who was spray-painting
While arresting someone for tagging, McMullen shoved him against a wall and took him to the ground.
McMullen and the man struggled. McMullen punched him in the head five times, and a second officer punched him once.
Though McMullen claimed the man punched him “at least 4 times,” a witness officer told the OPA that he did not see the man punch either officer.
The OPA admitted there was no evidence that the man was armed or posed a risk to officers but “felt that the entirety of [McMullen’s] force was consistent with policy”
Wrongfully stopped and frisked a Black student
McMullen and his partner responded to a call near a high school, where witnesses reported two people had beaten someone up and brandished a weapon.
His partner identified a student who matched the suspect’s description. McMullen handcuffed and frisked him.
As the officers waited for a witness to identify whether this was the correct suspect, McMullen commented that he matched the description. The student said, “That’s racist, man.”
Per SPD policy, officers must notify a supervisor when a bias claim is made. McMullen didn’t. While they continued to wait, McMullen searched the student, which is not constitutional during an investigative detention, known as a Terry stop.
The witness arrived and did not identify the detained student as the suspect. He was released.
The OPA found that McMullen’s search was lawful because he arguably had probable cause to arrest the student based on his physical description alone, so McMullen would be justified in searching the student incident to arrest.
However, the OPA conceded that McMullen “did not treat [the student] as if he had been arrested.” He did not read him his rights nor did he state that he was under arrest.
McMullen was referred for training, including counseling focused on “the importance of informing subjects whether they are being detained or under arrest.”
The OPA also determined the bias-based policing allegation to be unfounded, as they felt it was unclear whether McMullen had heard the complaint and whether the student was describing McMullen as racist.
Threatened and taunted someone while another officer was tasing them
McMullen and his partner responded to an assault and grabbed the person matching the description.
They struggled, and McMullen’s partner tased the man twice, incapacitating him. After the man fell to the ground, McMullen taunted him: “You want to fucking try again? You want to do it again? You want another ride?”
This time McMullen’s partner used the Taser’s “drive stun” mode to inflict pain as McMullen asked, “You want to keep going? You want some more?”
Once the officers had handcuffed the man, McMullen continued taunting, repeatedly calling the man a “stupid motherfucker” and saying, “this mother fucker does not learn”.
While inside the officers’ cruiser, the man struggled with the handcuffs and McMullen threatened to “hog-tie” him.
That type of restraint, and McMullen’s threat to the man, were determined by the OPA review to be “unprofessional, escalatory, and—if carried out as [McMullen] threatened—in violation of SPD policy.”
OPA’s review sustained the finding that McMullen had acted unprofessionally.
Pushed two demonstrators down and lied about it in his force report
On May 1, 2017, McMullen was working as a bicycle officer at the annual May Day demonstration, where the crowd had been ordered to disperse.
These officers ordered protesters to move back, and a YouTube video showed two demonstrators remaining in place.
McMullen was among the cops closest to the two, who fell to the ground after officers pushed with their bikes a second time. A bystander near McMullen said that he saw [McMullen] push someone to the ground with his bicycle.”
McMullen initially reported that two had grabbed his bike and then tripped over each other as a nearby officer pepper sprayed them.
The YouTube video contradicted his account. It showed the other officer pepper spraying a different person after the protesters had already fallen.
The OPA director found that it was “most likely” that McMullen knocked them down.
The OPA attributed the inconsistencies between McMullen’s account and the video evidence to “the stressful nature of the incident, differences in officer perception, the time that passed between the incident and reporting/interview, and the lack of review of video”.
The use of force allegation was ruled “inconclusive” due to the “limitations of the video evidence,” as well as the failure to identify and interview the protesters who were knocked down.
Didn’t activate his bodycam during a case involving missing property
McMullen had four camera violations: two sustained and two resulting in training referrals.
In one incident, he failed to activate his bodycam footage before handcuffing a person and could not explain why.
He emptied the contents of a confiscated bag while inside a precinct room without any cameras and failed to photograph the items removed from the bag. McMullen did not note in the report narrative that property had been taken.
The arrestee reported missing cash, prescription medications, two bottles of alcohol, and marijuana.
In an earlier case, McMullen repeatedly activated and deactivated his in-car video during and after a pursuit.
Hey, before you go…
DivestSPD is your only source for critical police coverage in the Puget Sound area and beyond. From filing public records to reading hundred-page reports, we’re putting in the hours to bring you weekly exclusive stories about cops brutalizing the public, committing crimes, and violating civil rights.
We get all our funding from ordinary people like you, so if you think this work is valuable and want it to continue, join our Ko-fi community today. Tiers start at just $5 a month.