Policeman who gave homeless man dog poo sandwich wins appeal

A Texas police officer who gave a homeless sleeper a sandwich contaminated with dog faeces has had his dismissal overturned on a technicality.

San Antonio patrolman Matthew Luckhurst was handed an indefinite suspension from the force in October 2016, following an internal affairs investigation into the incident.

Luckhurst played the prank while out with two other officers on an assignment to remove rough sleepers camped from a car park in spring 2016, local news station KSAT reports.

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He testified that he picked up the dog faeces with discarded bread and then placed it a styrofoam food container, allegedly to avoid stepping on it.

However, he admitted placing the container “in close proximity” to one of the rough sleepers who had refused to leave the area. According to his testimony, “the person picked up the container containing the feces and threw it on the ground after smelling it,” KSAT reports.

In November 2018, he told an independent arbitrator appointed to hear his appeal that “his actions were misconstrued and he never intended to harm the man”, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

A colleague testified that after being chastised by fellow officers, Luckhurst later cycled back to the car park and disposed of the container.

In October 2016, an internal investigation found that Luckhurst’s conduct had violated police regulations and brought “discredit and reproach on himself and the San Antonio Police Department”, and he was suspended indefinitely without pay.

However, that decision has now been overturned, due to a legal provision which states that officers cannot be disciplined for incidents which occurred more than 180 days before the start of disciplinary proceedings.

The appeal arbitrator found that conflicting reports of when the incident occurred meant that it could not be confirmed to have taken place within the 180-day limit.

However, the officer will not be returning to work for the time being. “While Luckhurst won this appeal, he still has to overcome being fired for a separate, feces-related incident in December 2016,” says Indian Country Today.

According to the department’s disciplinary report, Luckhurst and another San Antonio police officer defecated inside the women’s toilet in their patrol office and purposely did not flush the toilet.

The pair also “obtained a brown substance with the consistency of tapioca and spread it on the seat”, the report adds.

“Officer Luckhurst then boasted of these actions to fellow officers. This inappropriate behaviour was done after a female officer requested the women's restroom be kept clean.'

An appeal in that case is pending.