A smirking cop named Joel Christopher Ensley continues to wear the badge in Arizona despite a history of thuggery, abuse and lies in that state, a gypsy cop working for an ironically named town called Superior that employs several other cops with unsavory pasts.
Ensley was recently featured in an ABC 15 investigative piece about how police departments in Arizona coverup for their problem cops by failing to place them on the Brady list as required by law. The Brady list is supposed to include the names of cops with credibility issues and be made available to defendants arrested by these officers.
In the town of Superior, six of the town’s nine cops are on the Brady list, placing the population of 3,141 people at risk.
The above video shows Ensley violently arresting a drunk man named Aaron Maughn in 2018 who had passed out in front of a convenience store. Ensley then threatens to arrest another man who accused him of using excessive force on Maughn.
Later that day, Ensley arrests Maugh’s friend, Clint Peterson, who had walked into the police department to pick him up. Ensley made up some bogus charges that were dismissed but it took a year and a whole lot of money. He sued and received a settlement.
Ensley was apparently enraged that day because Maugh had eluded another cop the previous night who had been trying to pull him over for a traffic violation. Ensley accused Peterson of being involved in that incident but he had nothing to do with it.
According to ABC 15:
According to personnel records obtained by ABC15, Ensley has worked in at least six Arizona police departments, either failing to meet standards, resigning under investigation, or getting fired for dishonesty. In 2010, he was required to undergo a psychological evaluation that determined, “he may be a poor candidate due to his moral self-righteousness, possible adjustment challenges, may be overly sensitive to criticism, and may be rigid and inflexible in his thinking.”
Another officer involved in the arrest was Commander Anthony Doran, who was previously fired from the Pima County Sheriff’s Office for having sex on duty, records show. In 2019, Doran was fired from Superior for again having sex on duty, which he recorded on his body camera. He also had pornography stashed on his work computer in a folder labeled “Fun Time.”
Police were likely agitated with Peterson because of what his friend had done the night before.
Aaron Maughn failed to stop for a traffic violation and was able to evade officers by driving off-road into the desert and ditching his vehicle.
One of the officers pursuing him, Martin Sosa, has his own similar criminal history. In 2012, while working for Phoenix police, Sosa was arrested for DUI and unlawful flight after he sped away from officers at 80 to 85 miles per hour, records show.
Ensley is the poster child for the need for criminal justice reform; the way he lies and intimidates and abuses and seems to take pleasure in dehumanizing people, passing down those traits to the younger cops who have already been stripped off all compassion and common sense in the police academy. Notice in the above video how the reserve officer whose body camera is recording the arrest of Peterson accuses him of “fighting” when all he was doing was questioning.
Ensley is also named in another lawsuit [which you can read here]( https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/maven-user-documents/pinacnews/content/LhlGTxQVnU-jb5b_cF6-uA/ARPnHec3ikiKbI38evunhQ/Manriquez_v_Superior_Town_of_et_al__azdce-18-02026__0001.0.pdf) where he is accused of lying to a justice of peace to obtain a warrant where they proceeded to beat and hospitalize a man named Richard Manriquez in a failed search for drugs.
