Arizona police board to probe state trooper who lied about tasing man

While making an arrest in February 2025, Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper Carlos A. Bailon kicked, tased and knelt on the back of a man who was not obeying commands. But he left most of that out when filing official reports with DPS about the incident.

Another trooper’s body-worn camera caught it all, though, and now Bailon is in hot water with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, which licenses all officers in the state. At its May 20 meeting, the board, known as AZPOST, voted to open an investigation into Bailon, who resigned from DPS in the wake of the incident. That investigation could result in the suspension or even revocation of Bailon’s law enforcement license, preventing him from working as a peace officer elsewhere in the state.

The board is comprised of 12 people, including Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, state corrections department head Ryan Thornell and representatives from sheriff’s and police agencies around Arizona. It is one of the few agencies that can dole out discipline to law enforcement officers. In 2025, the board punished 42 current and former officers.

The incident in question occurred after Bailon responded to a three-car accident on U.S. Route 60 on Feb. 16, 2025. AZPOST compliance specialist Arlene Heckel told the board that soon after he arrived, a pickup truck crashed into a fire truck and another DPS patrol car that were parked to block the road leading to the scene. The pickup’s driver tried to drive away but the vehicle lost a wheel. The driver exited and began running down the highway and across an active entrance ramp. 

Bailon ran after him, yelling at him to stop. The trooper then pulled out his Taser, telling the man that he’d use it if he didn’t stop running. The driver stopped and knelt on the pavement at the edge of the highway. He faced away from Bailon and towards a concrete wall, with his hands up on top of a barrier.

Bailon yelled at him to get on his stomach, Heckel said. When the driver didn’t listen, he kicked him twice, upward into the abdomen first and then downward to get the man on his stomach. Another officer arrived to help Bailon cuff him. Bailon held the driver down with his knee on his upper back and neck area. The driver, who was on his stomach, initially wouldn’t release his hands so the officers could cuff him. He then relented, after which Bailon tased him twice, apparently not aware that the driver had obeyed commands and released his hands.

Bailon’s official report didn’t reflect all of that. He wrote only that he kicked the subject once. He did not mention using his Taser or kneeling on the man. He also did not fill out the department’s use-of-force form about the incident. However, the other officer’s body-cam footage captured the entire incident and an internal investigation found that Bailon violated policies for use of force and improper procedure. He resigned from the department.

The decision on what to do about Bailon’s law enforcement license will be made at a future AZPOST meeting.

A plea for mercy

Also at the May meeting, attorney Cassidy Bacon argued once more for the board’s mercy for her client, Phoenix police officer Timothy H. Clark. At its April meeting, AZPOST voted to suspend Clark’s certification for 18 months after Clark shared privileged police information and, in an unrelated incident, was arrested after a drunken bender following a 2023 Diamondbacks game.  

In April, the board debated extensively about what to do with Clark, who appeared in person and expressed remorse over his behavior. The board ultimately chose to suspend him for 18 months instead of 36. He was in attendance again when it came time to finalize his punishment at the May meeting. Bacon asked the board to reconsider the 18-month suspension, saying she’d confirmed with the Phoenix Police Department that he would not lose his job if he was suspended for 12 months or less.

“He’s not asking you to overlook what he did,” Bacon told the board. “Instead, he’s asking that you impose a suspension that takes into account who he is today and that gives him a real opportunity to go back and serve the Phoenix community that he cares so much about.”

This time, however, the board did not entertain her arguments. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannells, the board’s chairman, called the 18-month suspension “a gift” and said that if Clark had come in front of the board sooner after the incidents, he would have had his certification revoked altogether. The future of his career was not the board’s responsibility, and the board needed to stick to precedent. The board voted to confirm Clark’s 18-month suspension.

“We’re a standard board,” he said, before wishing Clark good luck. 

However, Bacon then successfully turned the board’s argument back on it for her next client, Phoenix police officer Celina A. Gonzales.

Gonzales was suspended by the department for 24 hours after a late-night fight with her boyfriend in March 2024 resulted in a visit from police, assistant attorney general Joe Dylo told the board. Gonzales and her boyfriend fought after he came home drunk from a night out at a bar. She tried to grab his keys from him when he tried to leave, to stop him from driving drunk. He raised them over his head and while grabbing at them, she scratched his neck. She then went into the garage and dumped out the bins with his Hot Wheels collection onto the ground. 

When police arrived, the boyfriend claimed that she scratched him on purpose. Gonzales said she may have scratched him inadvertently. The boyfriend later recanted. Gonzales admitted to dumping out the Hot Wheels, which were not damaged. Domestic violence charges against Gonzales were dropped, but the department sustained allegations of assault and disorderly conduct in its internal investigation into the incident. She was suspended for 24 hours. 

AZPOST was considering a six-month suspension for Gonzales over the incident, but Bacon argued that such a punishment was unheard of for a situation like that. She was not convicted of domestic violence charges, nor were they pending, and she did not have a pattern of similar behavior. Bacon had combed through past cases, she said, and found nothing comparable. Everyone else the board had suspended showed a pattern of abuse or had been convicted of criminal charges. 

The board agreed and voted to suspend Gonzales for 24 hours, including time served.

Other investigations

At the May meeting, the board voted to initiate investigations into four other officers. They were:

• Former Mesa police officer Jonathan P. Stone, who tested positive for amphetamines in July 2025, according to AZPOST compliance specialist Alfred Grijalva. After testing positive, Stone admitted that he’d been taking his wife’s adderall without a prescription, despite knowing it was against the law. He claimed he took it to help him complete tasks while off-duty but admitted working patrols after taking it. Grijalva said the test confirmed Stone was not taking methamphetamine, but it could not confirm he was taking adderall. An internal investigation found that Stone never sought his own prescription for adderall nor did he tell his supervisors about his inability to concentrate. He resigned from the department. 
• Former Safford police officer David J. Gomez, whose wife turned him in for lying about his location during his shifts, according to AZPOST compliance specialist Billy Caldwell. Gomez had just left a job as a Graham County Sheriff’s deputy and started as a police officer in Safford when his wife told the Safford Police Department that he used to spend hours of his sheriff’s office shift at home. The departments investigated and, using GPS data, found that Gomez spent an average of three hours per shift at home between October 2024 and March 2025. The investigation also found that he lied about responding to a call about possible shots fired. He reported back that he’d found no suspects, but GPS data showed that he‘d never left his house to investigate. Investigators also found that he sent his wife sensitive law enforcement information, including photos from the scene of an in-custody death and a collision with serious injuries. He also texted her about a murder, identifying the victim and the suspect. Gomez resigned from the Safford Police Department and Graham County prosecutors declined to press charges.
• Former San Luis police officer Jaime I. Valenzuela, who visited a woman during work hours for personal visits, according to AZPOST compliance specialist Dave Toporek. Valenzuela, who worked as a school resource officer, visited the complainant during his shift while wearing his uniform and driving his marked patrol vehicle nine times between March and May 2025. An internal investigation found that during one visit, he lied to his supervisor about his location during a check-in. Valenzuela retired from the department but in an interview with the professional standards bureau, he admitted to having a relationship with the woman and to visiting her during work hours.
• Former Pascua Yaqui police officer Jesse Ryan, who was caught having a lover’s rendezvous with a department dispatcher in a park during his shift, according to AZPOST compliance officer Mike Thorly. A Pima County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a call about suspicious activity in the park just before 4 a.m. on June 13, 2025. The deputy heard a woman moaning and saw her and an officer in uniform “engaged in suspicious activity,” Thorly said. After he was caught, Ryan admitted to lying and giving three different versions of events, and to telling an interview witness to lie, too. He resigned before the internal investigation was completed.

The board also voted to deny certification for three former recruits for 12 months each: