The Garland Police Department said it fired one of its officers for allegedly using excessive force on two consecutive nights.
Former Garland police officer Matthew Mitchell was fired in May and has two public hearings to appeal his termination scheduled for this week.
According to Garland police spokesman Lt. Pedro Barineau, the hearings were postponed because Mitchell plans to resign before the appeals process and internal investigations are over. Barineau wrote in an email that the department anticipated the effective day of Mitchell’s resignation would be May 26, 2021.
Garland PD revealed that Mitchell’s resignation is not yet finalized. He could still follow through on the appeal process and reschedule his hearings.
During a civil service commission meeting in August, Garland Police Chief Jeff Bryan said Mitchell’s use of force incidents were not within the Garland PD’s policy and not within the law.
“I have decided that he does not meet our standards,” Bryan said.
Garland police did not reveal the circumstances surrounding Mitchell’s use of force or the nature of the force used.
According to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, 28-year-old Mitchell joined the Garland Police Department in November 2019. He was previously an officer in Paris, where he started his law enforcement career in 2016. He worked in Paris for around eighteen months before joining Mount Pleasant police.
The commission said that Mitchell left Mount Pleasant police just after two months and returned to Paris for another year.
According to Mount Pleasant City Secretary Darleen Durant, nobody filed a complaint against Mitchell during his short tenure at the department, and he received an honorable discharge.
Mitchell previously held two intern positions for nearly a year at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen before starting his law enforcement career. His Facebook page revealed he also worked as a guitar teacher for a year in Dallas.
