Mt. Pleasant Council upholds police officer’s termination

MT. PLEASANT – A Mt. Pleasant police officer was fired in January, and the officer hoped to get his job back with the help of the Mt. Pleasant City Council.

Officer Steve Dykstra was terminated from the Mt. Pleasant Police Department on Jan. 13. In his termination letter, which Dykstra shared with The Union, Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Lyle Murray wrote that Dykstra was being fired for incidents of “incompetence and misconduct” which he detailed in the letter.

However, Dykstra said he disputes the chief’s portrayal of the incidents in the report, and that’s why he appeared before the Mt. Pleasant City Council on Feb. 9 to ask to be reinstated as a police officer. The council voted to table Dykstra’s request to a later date. At its Feb. 23 meeting, the council voted 6-0 to uphold Dykstra’s termination. Dykstra was not present for that meeting, but his wife, Tiffany, spoke on his behalf. Stan Newell also addressed the council in support of Dykstra.

When reached for comment on Dykstra’s termination, Chief Murray said, “At this time, we are moving forward on hiring a replacement and I will not have any comment on any previous officers from our department.”

Several Mt. Pleasant City Council members said they were limited in what they could say about Dykstra’s firing since it was a personnel matter. Council member Bob Griffith said he did not believe the council should be micromanaging its department heads. Council member Kent White felt the same way, saying, “I just felt it was important to support the chief of police.”

Council member Steve Engberg said the council took the matter seriously, which is why the council tabled it, to further consider it.

Termination letter

Dykstra was employed as a Mt. Pleasant police officer for just under a year and a half, having been hired in August 2020. In Dykstra’s termination letter, Chief Murray details six examples of “incompetence and misconduct” that Dykstra allegedly committed during his time as an officer. Chief Murray also mentions instances of incompetence and misconduct allegedly committed during Dykstra’s probationary period that Chief Murray brought to his attention on Jan. 27, 2021.

Dykstra said he feels the incidents in the termination letter are all minor and that they should not have warranted his termination. One of the instances that Chief Murray cited of Dykstra’s incompetence and misconduct occurred on Oct. 17, 2021, when Dykstra stopped a skateboarder for skateboarding in the street, “which is not illegal” the report stated. Dykstra contends that the skateboarder’s behavior was illegal.

One instance mentioned in the termination letter involves a traffic stop Dykstra made on Dec. 15, 2021, where the male subject in the vehicle fled on foot. According to the report, Dykstra “eventually found the female driver and used profanity” at the woman and a “raised voice due to your belief that she was lying.”

Another instance describes a traffic stop where Dykstra stopped a driver who used a turn signal, but who allegedly did not signal 100 feet before the stop. Murray wrote in the report that Dykstra failed to inform the driver why they were stopped.

Excessive force investigation

An outside agency investigated Dykstra for potentially using excessive force during an arrest he made on June 29, 2021. The review was prompted by a YouTube video, shot by an onlooker, of David Hudnall, 31, being taken into custody at a Fast break convenience store. The video, which showed only part of the arrest, was shot in a car’s rearview mirror. The video shows Hudnall being struck in the head and sides by the officer, later determined to be Dykstra. Hudnall was arrested and charged with assaulting a peace officer, carrying weapons and interference with official acts causing injury, and possessing methamphetamine.

The outside agency concluded that Dykstra complied with department policy in using appropriate force to restrain the suspect from engaging in further “unlawful acts and to protect himself and others from harm.” Neither Dykstra nor the investigating agency were named in the initial news release. Dykstra said that even though he was cleared of using excessive force in this incident, his termination letter mentions it because he made inappropriate statements including the use of obscenities and yelling at witnesses/bystanders.

Dykstra said the part about using inappropriate language is true, and apologized for it when he addressed the city council during its first meeting in February.

“When I went before the city council, I tried to explain what happened,” Dykstra said. “I was assaulted while trying to make a legal arrest of a wanted criminal. I was bleeding from a cut lip, and someone was screaming at me for trying to handcuff a guy trying to get away. When I got up, I used a curse word as an adjective. It was wrong for me to do that.”

Dykstra said he didn’t understand why the incident was mentioned in his termination letter since he was not disciplined at the time and was cleared of using excessive force.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” he said.

Fairfield incident

The most recent incident detailed in the report is one where Dykstra presents a different version of events from what is described in the report. In fact, Dykstra said he was surprised to learn the incident resulted in a complaint. He was also surprised to see it listed in his termination letter because he was not acting as a Mt. Pleasant police officer at the time of the incident, which was a private family matter.

According to the report, Dykstra drove to a home in Fairfield on Dec. 18, 2021, where sometime between 3-4 a.m. that morning, he allegedly shined a flashlight in the property’s owner’s face, entered the home, asked if his daughter was at the property, searched the home, including searching the basement without the property owner’s prior knowledge or permission, woke the property owner’s daughter and asked the girl questions about his daughter’s location.

“In addition, you engaged in this behavior without ever calling local law enforcement to assist you, putting yourself and the property owners in a potentially dangerous situation,” the report states.

Dykstra said he denies several allegations in the report. He denies shining a light in the property owner’s face and searching her home without permission.

Dykstra told The Union that the homeowner was someone he had never met before, and the reason he was at her house in the middle of the night was to look for his 18-year-old daughter, because he didn’t know where she was, and learned from his daughter’s friend that she was at that address.

During the incident in Fairfield, Dykstra was off-duty, was using his personal vehicle and was not wearing his uniform. He said he was concerned for his daughter’s safety, since she was not responding to phone calls.

The following day, the Fairfield homeowner made a complaint to the Mt. Pleasant Police Department. Dykstra said Chief Murray told him not to come to work that day, and that he was being put on administrative leave.

Dykstra said he and the chief spoke about that incident, and Dykstra presented his side of the story. Dykstra said he was surprised the incident generated a complaint, because he felt the Fairfield homeowner was accommodating of his wishes to look for his daughter at the time, and that the two didn’t argue.

Due process hearing

After the incident, Dykstra was issued a due process notice on Dec. 30, 2021, and was given a chance to defend himself during a due process hearing on Jan. 4, 2022. The incident with the Fairfield homeowner and earlier incidents allegedly showing “incompetency and misconduct” were brought up at that time.

In Dykstra’s termination letter, Chief Murray wrote that he emailed Dykstra on Sept. 30, 2021, regarding a patrol rifle, and Dykstra did not respond to his email. The letter states that Dykstra was adamant that he had never been counseled on this alleged misconduct, but Chief Murray wrote that he spoke to two officers about the misconduct and asked them to follow-up with Dykstra, and only then did Dykstra return the email. Chief Murray wrote that he did not find Dykstra to be forthright and honest during his due process hearing.

Dykstra told The Union that he believes he was forthright and honest during the due process hearing.

“It said I didn’t return the email, but I did return the email,” Dykstra said. “It was kind of weird, and I was really surprised that I was being treated that way.”

Dykstra said he was offered a severance payment to resign, but he declined it.

“I felt like I wasn’t being treated fairly,” he said.

Dykstra turned to the Mt. Pleasant City Council in the hopes that the council would reinstate him on the police department, but that effort failed.

At the second meeting in February where the council voted to uphold the termination, Dykstra was not present. He said he could not attend because he was working at his new job, in construction.

Dykstra told The Union that he and his family moved to the Mt. Pleasant area from Minneapolis because they wanted to be closer to family, and because they were told this was a “pro-law enforcement community,” which he felt was not true of Minneapolis.

“I took the job because [Chief Murray] told me that the department was like family,” Dykstra said. “I wanted to be treated like family, but I didn’t feel I was treated like family.”

Letters of support

Tiffany Dykstra wrote a letter to The Union to express her opinion on what she believed was the “wrongful and unjust” termination of her husband from the Mt. Pleasant Police Department. She wrote specifically about the Fairfield incident.

“How does looking for your child qualify anyone for termination from their job?” Tiffany wrote. “He was off duty - no badge, no gun, no flashlight. He was doing what any other parent might do if they were worried about their kid. It was a personal matter and had nothing to do with his job at the police department.”

Tiffany wrote that her husband has worked in law enforcement and as a public servant for 20 years. She wrote that this termination on his record will likely prevent him from future employment in law enforcement.

“I am deeply disturbed and saddened by this whole process and how it has been handled,” she wrote. “We did not expect that from this town when we moved here.”

Other members of the community wrote letters to The Union supporting Dykstra. Ronald J. "Ron" and Barb Wyse wrote that, “Steve is a very honest person and integrity is a major part of his life.”

The Wyeses wrote they got to know the Dykstra family after their move from Minneapolis, and felt that the Mt. Pleasant Police Department was getting a “big asset.”

“They are a type of people that anyone would welcome them as a neighbor,” the Wyeses wrote. “Steve is a devout Christian and desires no ill upon anyone, even in this time of wrongful action taken by the Mt. Pleasant Police Chief.”

James Freeborn said he attended the two city council meetings where Dykstra’s termination was discussed. In a letter to The Union, Freeborn wrote that he didn’t feel any of the incidents cited in the termination letter warranted Dykstra’s firing.

“None of them, at the time of their occurrence, precipitated a reprimand or any disciplinary action toward Steve, but somehow, now were thought cause for firing him,” Freeborn wrote.

Freeborn said he has known Dykstra for about a year or so, and that they attend the same church and have shared meals together.

“I know Steve to be a humble and principled man with strong convictions. I have the utmost confidence in his integrity and character,” Freeborn wrote.

Freeborn wrote that he was disappointed the city council members did not explain their decision to uphold the termination, which he feels is an “injustice suffered on the Dykstra family.”

The Union asked Dykstra if he solicited letters of recommendation from his fellow officers to present to the city council. Dykstra said he did not solicit such letters.

Dykstra said he’s not sure what more he can do about his termination now that the city council voted to uphold it.

“At this time, I don’t have any recourse,” he said. “I feel like there’s nothing more I can do.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com