Ex-Buckeye cop who choked and punched teen son faces investigation

One day in late October 2024, a 15-year-old boy called 911 after a scuffle with his father, Buckeye police officer David Ellison.

Ellison, who worked as a school resource officer at Verrado High School in Buckeye, had returned to their Goodyear home drunk, and the pair had argued. The father shoved his son outside and locked him out, and the son retaliated by punching and denting Ellison’s truck. That brought Ellison running out onto the patio, threatening to kill his son if he touched the truck again. Ellison then headbutted his son, who tried to push him away. The father grabbed his kid by the neck, choking him and punching him multiple times and causing him to “bleed from the nose and mouth,” before throwing the boy to the ground.

Last week, this harrowing scene was described by a compliance specialist to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board at its March meeting. Known as AZPOST, the board licenses all law enforcement officers in the state and is one of the few agencies with the power to discipline officers. The 12-person board includes Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Director Ryan Thornell, representatives from multiple sheriff’s and police agencies around the state and newly appointed Arizona State University professor James Wright, who replaced Phoenix City Councilmember Kevin Robinson. 

Last year, the board punished 42 current and former officers. Ellison might be next. At the meeting last week, the board unanimously voted to open an investigation into Ellison for his conduct that night.

Other investigations and suspensions

The board also voted to start proceedings against three other officers in addition to Ellison. 

One is former San Carlos Apache Police officer Ted S. Gamble, who pleaded no contest to domestic violence-related assault charges in Gila River Indian Community Court for a drunken fight between him and his ex-wife in a casino parking lot. According to an AZPOST specialist, Gamble’s wife didn’t want to leave with him, so Gamble pushed her against his truck and blocked her from moving. When she called 911, Gamble took her phone away. 

The other two officers were caught in a lie:

• Former Oro Valley officer Alexander J. Smallbrook showed up an hour late for an off-duty shift at a University of Arizona football game. He later blamed a family emergency for his tardiness, but then admitted it was actually because of poor planning and time management. He resigned before he could be terminated.
• Ex-Queen Creek recruit Melissa K. Noriega couldn’t keep her hands off her phone and smartwatch while in the academy and then lied about her device usage when confronted. Noriega was dismissed from the academy.

The board also voted to punish three officers by suspending their certifications:

• Former Salt River officer Stephanie N. Carmona-Zayas received a 24-month suspension for dishonesty to two patrol sergeants about an impaired driving investigation she conducted last August. Presenters did not reveal details of the incident because it was related to medical records for previous on-duty injuries, but mentioned that they discussed her “lucidity, ability to weigh truth from non-truth” when deciding the discipline.
• Former Pima County Sheriff’s Deputy Hemery J. Pamboud received a retroactive six-month suspension for hitting and damaging a parked vehicle last May while parallel parking his car in front of his home in Tucson while off duty. Pamboud was a probationary deputy and did not properly report it or notify the other car’s owner. 
• Former Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper Zacharie A. Clark received a 12-month suspension for looking up a license and photo in the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System for personal reasons. He was the only officer to receive punishment who spoke at the meeting. “I take full responsibility for what I did,” Clark told the board over video.

A second chance

While the board often doles out discipline, they also considered — and granted — forgiveness at the March meeting. 

AZPOST certification applicant Thomas Brakhia, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy hopeful, pleaded his case to the board to approve his certification after a 2010 run-in with the law disqualified him from working in law enforcement. Brahkhia, who was 16 at the time, was accused of having “transferred marijuana up to 250 times,” according to board legal counsel assistant attorney general Mark Brachtl, an act that disqualifies Brahkhia from being certified to work in law enforcement in Arizona.

According to Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Jeff Gentry, who presented the petition, Brakhia and a group of friends wanted to smoke weed, so they devised a system where they would pool their money, buy it in bulk and dole it out amongst themselves. Gentry called it an act of “juvenile indiscretion” and “disqualifying conduct” that the department hoped to have waived.

“At no time did Mr. Brakhia profit from this or make money in any way shape or form,” Gentry told the board. “He simply partook in the marijuana.”

Now 31 and married with two kids, Brakhia has had a clean record since. Gentry met Brakhia when the two worked together at Amazon on a team that responded to and mitigated threats. When Gentry rejoined the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office after a brief retirement — Gentry is not the only rehire from the Joe Arpaio era — Brakhia, who used to work in corrections, asked if he could go with him. 

“I witnessed his work ethic and I was impressed,” Gentry told the board.

Speaking to the board, Brakhia said he’d “never partaken in the selling of any type of drugs or narcotics” and had just made some “bad decisions with some friends.”