PHOENIX — An award-winning officer was recently told he will be fired.
Officer Daniel “Beau” Jones, was promoted to sergeant last October after becoming one of the top drug enforcement officers on the force. However, after an internal investigation concluded, Phoenix police notified Sgt. Jones they intend to fire him.
Jones is currently under a criminal investigation, but Phoenix Police have not confirmed the details of the investigation.
"Daniel Beau Jones has been notified he will be terminated,” Sgt. Tommy Thompson, Phoenix police spokesperson said Tuesday.
Beau Jones had been with the force for over 19 years. Early reviews show a special ability to carry out drug busts. In 2014, he was part of a nationally recognized team, which in one year seized almost 4,200 pounds of marijuana and almost $500,000 in cash.
PREVIOUSLY: Phoenix PD fires sergeant after internal investigation, criminal investigation continues
However, lawsuits filed against Sgt. Jones paint a different picture.
In 2007, a lawsuit filed by a fellow officer details harassment.
According to the lawsuit, Jones called a fellow officer a "Dumb c---," "dumb b---" and a "c-- dumpster," among other derogatory terms.
The lawsuit alleges Officer Jones would brag about beating a person so badly they were in a vegetative state and once aimed a Taser at and threatened to tase a female officer.
In a 2014 case, one of Beau Jones’ drug busts was overturned, according to a lawsuit. In that stop, court documents allege a witness was taken to a cemetery and told to keep his mouth shut or would end up buried there.
The victim in that case claimed he suffered brain injuries after being beaten.
12 News reached out to Sgt. Jones, but he hung up after learning we were a news organization.
Phoenix police have yet to release details on the criminal investigation, citing Arizona law.
The settlement of old court cases were not included in old performance reviews of Beau Jones.
Phoenix police said it was because "settlements are often entered into without any admissions, fault determinations, or factual conclusions. As such, the fact that a suit settles would not be expected to appear in a performance review because it is not evidence of an employee’s good or bad performance."