Cop who fed homeless man 'dog poop sandwich' gets to keep his job, social media outraged
A police officer in Texas may have been able to get his dismissal overturned for giving a homeless man a sandwich filled with feces, but is currently facing the wrath of the twitterati over his sick act.
Matthew Luckhurst of the San Antonio Police Department was able to keep his job over a technicality after the vile incident saw him picking up dog poop, placing it on a piece of bread and then placing the "sandwich" in a Styrofoam container in the guise of a "half-eaten meal" that had been provided by a local religious group for the homeless in the city.
The sleeping man would eventually wake up, pick up the container, and even possibly ate what was in it.
Users on social media have not held back their disgust with the officer, the Daily Mail reported. One said: "San Antonio cop Matthew Luckhurst is a #sick #f***!!!"
Another added: "Should of been punished horrible person and should of been fired but that’s SAPD for you no morals and no justice. (sic)"
"Sick sick sick!!! He’s sworn to protect everyone! What a piece of garbage!! Why does he still have a badge? Disgraceful man," another user wrote on Twitter.
A fourth one posted: "What a CRUEL & DISGUSTING human! He seems to either have a fetish for poop or is mentally a 6-year-old that never grew up. He should’ve been punished with eating his own feces sandwich."
The officer was able to keep his job by arguing that the indefinite suspension didn't apply as the disciplinary action had been taken after the statute of limitation.
KSAT reported that the officer argued that the incident fell outside the 180-day window for allowing him to be suspended indefinitely, and an arbitrator reportedly agreed with him earlier this month.
The arbitrator then wrote in his decision that is based on the rule that Luckhurst's discipline fell outside of the time limit that is there for punishing his behavior.
He wrote: "The indefinite suspension is overturned due to the violation of the 180-days prohibition."
The arbitrator also noted that while the suspension was overturned, the punishment was "reasonable based on just cause for Luckhurst's action whether intentionally or grossly inappropriate, regarding the fecal sandwich being placed in a container close to a homeless person".
Another bike officer who was there at the time reported that he told Lockhurst, who is a five-year veteran of the force, that he couldn't just leave the container with poop next to the homeless man and told Luckhurst to go back and dispose of it.
The officer said that he saw Luckhurst biking back to the spot and assumed that he threw it away but it is not confirmed that he did.
Luckhurst was then notified of his dismissal on October 28 of that year which was within the 180-day window if the incident took place in May as was originally believed.
According to his medical records, however, he suffered from an injury during martial arts class that left him on light duty between April 6 and June 14, 2016. This means that he wouldn't have been able to ride his bicycle in May.
Even though he won this particular appeal, Luckhurst had another feces related claim that he is yet to be addressed from the same year.
The former officer was given a second indefinite suspension in December 2016 over an allegation that he and another bike officer had defacated in a toilet that was assigned to women in the bike patrol office.
The suspension document states: "The toilet was left unflushed by both officers intentionally. Officer Luckhurst and the other officer also obtained a brown substance with the consistency of tapioca and spread it on the seat."
It continues: "Officer Luckhurst then boasted of these actions to fellow officers. This inappropriate behavior was done after a female officer requested the women's restroom be kept clean."