A former Garland police officer was fired for kneeing a handcuffed suspect in the head and pepper-spraying a woman in the back of a police car on consecutive days, according to department records obtained this week.
Matthew Mitchell’s indefinite suspension in May came after the incidents in February, a little more than a year after he started working for Garland police, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
Mitchell also omitted the use of force in his initial reports and “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly” misrepresented to internal affairs investigators his knowledge of the first incident, clear violations of department policy and grounds for the suspension, Police Chief Jeff Bryan wrote in a May letter to the Garland Civil Service Commission.
Mitchell, a 28-year-old Plano Senior High graduate, had two public hearings scheduled in October to appeal his termination, but he opted to resign before the appeals process and internal investigation could be completed. His effective day of resignation is May 26, 2021, the department said.
Bryan addressed Mitchell’s termination during a commission meeting in August but did not discuss the nature and timeline of the two incidents. A police spokesman said the department declined to comment further, and attempts by The Dallas Morning News to reach Mitchell were unsuccessful.
The traffic stop
On Feb. 21, around 3:45 a.m., Mitchell was one of four officers on the scene of a traffic stop for a suspected stolen vehicle, according to Bryan’s letter to the commission.
In the process of being placed into a police car, the handcuffed suspect attempted to flee and was caught by an officer, Bryan wrote.
While the officer had the suspect restrained on his back, Mitchell struck him in the head and face with his knee and shin, the letter says.
The two officers completed a use of force incident report that did not mention Mitchell kneeing the suspect, who was left “dazed and nearly unconscious,” Bryan wrote.
About three weeks later, Mitchell told an internal affairs investigator he was trying to help his colleague restrain and arrest the suspect and didn’t know his knee had hit him in the head. Department records say the encounter was captured by body camera video, which The News has requested.
Mitchell’s account doesn’t align with his colleague’s recollection of the event, according to the letter, which said Mitchell watched the video later that morning and commented that the use of force “most likely hurt.”
The domestic disturbance call
Almost exactly 24 hours later, around 3 a.m. Feb. 22, Mitchell and another officer responded to a domestic disturbance call.
After investigating, Mitchell told a woman present at the residence that she was under arrest for assault, Bryan’s letter said.
While the other officer was buckling her into the police car, the woman exhaled through her nose and discharged mucous onto his arm, police said.
The officer initially told Mitchell the suspect had spit on him, but she said she was blowing her nose, according to the police account, and the officer closed the door, wiped his sleeve and moved to the back of the car.
Around 14 seconds after the woman blew her nose, police say Mitchell opened the car door and pepper-sprayed her in the face without warning or giving her a command.
Mitchell’s initial report omitted the encounter, police said. When a department lieutenant reviewed body camera footage and saw the video didn’t match the report, he told the officer to resubmit it.
His amended report states that the suspect was noncompliant and kept trying to spit on the other officer, but the body camera footage doesn’t show this, the police record states.
Mitchell told internal affairs investigators that he used the pepper spray to “effect the lawful arrest” of the woman and defend himself and others against her actions.
“I knew that the suspect was intoxicated, had been resisting officers and yelling profanities at officers, had put her hands on her own daughter,” Mitchell reportedly said.
In response, Chief Bryan wrote that the woman had already been arrested and secured in a police car equipped with a Plexiglas shield to protect officers riding in front.
“As such, no further ‘combative, offensive and assaultive actions’ could have been ‘imminent,’ ” he wrote, citing some of what Mitchell told investigators.
Mitchell started his career as an officer in Paris, Texas, in 2016 and worked there for about a year and a half before doing a two-month stint as an officer in Mount Pleasant, then returning to Paris for another year.
The News has requested his personnel files from the three departments. The city of Garland declined to release his file and said in planned to seek an attorney general opinion about releasing the records.
A background check performed by The News found that Mitchell had no previous criminal charges, misdemeanors or traffic violations.
Before working in law enforcement, Mitchell studied ministry at Criswell College in East Dallas, held two intern positions for almost a year at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen and worked as a guitar teacher for a year in Dallas, according to his Facebook page. His page was taken down after The News’ first story about his termination.
Staff researcher Naomi Kaskela contributed to this report.
