Johan Mulero: DeLand Officer Fired and Reinstated

Johan “Joey” Mulero is a DeLand, Florida police officer who was fired in December 2018 for using excessive force and wrongfully arresting a 67-year-old man, then reinstated in March 2021 after an independent arbitrator overturned the termination on procedural grounds. The arbitrator agreed Mulero’s conduct was a dismissible offense but ruled that the DeLand Police Department’s internal investigation was so flawed that the firing could not stand.

The Arrest That Started It

On September 14, 2017, Mulero and a trainee officer responded to a disturbance call near Orange and New York avenues in DeLand, where Allan Kidd was reportedly yelling at passing vehicles and pedestrians. Mulero first told Kidd to move away from low-hanging power lines. The encounter escalated when Kidd grew upset and Mulero became agitated that Kidd was not following his commands.¹

Body camera footage captured Mulero grabbing Kidd and forcing him to the ground after Kidd approached him. “Sit down. Sit down… When I tell you to do something you do it,” Mulero said. After Kidd stood up to retrieve his identification, he pointed a finger at Mulero and called him a “Nazi.” Mulero threw him to the ground a second time and arrested him. At one point on camera, Mulero responded, “I don’t like [expletive] Nazis either.”¹²

Kidd was charged with resisting an officer without violence. Prosecutors dropped the charge.¹

Why the Department Fired Him

DeLand PD did not open an internal affairs investigation until May 2018, after Kidd’s attorney contacted the department. Mulero had been with the department since February 4, 2013, and the police union described his prior disciplinary history as “minimal.”³¹

Police Chief Jason Umberger concluded that Mulero lacked probable cause for the arrest, failed to use de-escalation techniques, and used force that was “uncalled for.” The investigation sustained findings of conduct unbecoming an officer and unlawful arrest, and found that Mulero had falsified the arrest affidavit by slanting his account. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office separately reviewed the body camera video, called the conduct “troubling and inappropriate,” and declined to file criminal charges.¹²

Mulero was terminated on December 3, 2018.³

Why an Arbitrator Put Him Back on the Force

The International Union of Police Associations grieved the firing under the collective bargaining agreement. Independent arbitrator Christopher M. Shulman heard the case in July and November 2020 and issued a 23-page ruling on March 12, 2021.⁴

Shulman did not clear Mulero. He affirmed the city’s factual findings, agreed the misconduct was a dismissible offense, and rejected the argument that Mulero was simply having a “bad day.” Mulero, he wrote, “has tended to react aggressively whenever a member of the public is anything but immediately compliant and fawningly polite.” The city had introduced body camera footage from other encounters to show a pattern.⁴⁵

Even so, Shulman overturned the firing because the internal investigation violated the Florida Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights in several ways:⁶

Sergeant Juan Millan, who led the investigation, failed to preserve audio and video of his interview with Kidd, leaving only an unverified transcript.
The final report lacked a verification-of-truthfulness statement required by Florida law.
Mulero was not notified when investigators expanded their inquiry into additional policy violations.
Deputy Chief Gary Batten changed the finding on the excessive force charge from “not sustained” to “sustained” and deleted the investigating sergeant’s written explanation.

Shulman reserved his sharpest criticism for Batten’s edit, calling it “no mere grammatical or writing style correction” but “a substantive increase in the ultimate findings” that likely became the “tipping point” leading to termination.⁴ The sergeant assigned to the case had not received internal affairs training before or during the investigation.⁷ Batten, since retired, faced no publicly reported consequences for altering the findings.³

Conditions of His Return

Rather than a straight reinstatement, Shulman converted the firing into a two-year unpaid suspension with conditions attached:

No back pay for the roughly two years Mulero was off the force.
“Last chance” status, meaning any future policy violation results in immediate dismissal.
Mandatory retraining, particularly in de-escalation and the specific policies he was found to have violated.
Loss of Field Training Officer status, which could only be restored if the city later found him suitable.

Mulero returned to work on March 15, 2021. The city confirmed he was not immediately placed back on street patrol while he completed the required training.⁸⁹

What the City Said

DeLand officials did not hide their frustration. City spokesperson Chris Graham said the outcome turned on “technicalities” and that the investigator “didn’t dot all of his I’s and cross all of his T’s.” A written statement from the city went further: “This exposes a serious flaw in the system that allows an officer with a history of misconduct to continue their employment without facing the appropriate consequences for their actions.”⁹⁸

The city stood by its original decision, noting that the arbitrator himself had called the conduct a dismissible offense. Graham also acknowledged the practical reality: “It’s unfortunate that decision was made, but he’s our officer now and we’re going to support him, and he’s going to have to go through a lot of training to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”⁸

Why He’s Considered a Brady Officer

Because the sustained misconduct findings against Mulero remain on his record, he is considered a “Brady cop” under the Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in Brady v. Maryland. If Mulero arrests or testifies in a future criminal case, prosecutors may be required to disclose his history of sustained misconduct findings to defense attorneys, which can be used to challenge his credibility as a witness.⁷

Allan Kidd also sued the City of DeLand over the arrest. The city settled out of court. The terms were not publicly reported.²⁴

1
Daytona Beach News-Journal. Former DeLand Police Officer Fired for Excessive Force Asking for Job Back, Back Pay
2
WESH. Local Man Sues City of DeLand, Says He Was Improperly Arrested
3
Yahoo News. DeLand Cop Fired in 2018
4
ClickOrlando. Fired DeLand Officer Gets His Job Back After Arbitrator Finds Issues With Internal Investigation
5
WFTV. DeLand Police Officer Who Was Fired for Mistreating, Wrongfully Arresting Man Rehired
6
Daytona Beach News-Journal. DeLand Cop Fired for Misconduct Back on Force With Conditions
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VolusiaExposed. Officer Johan Joey Mulero – Arbitrator’s Decision
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Fox 35 Orlando. Fired DeLand Police Officer Gets Job Back
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WESH. DeLand Officer Reinstated After Excessive Force