One of the Collin County detention officers fired earlier this month after the in-custody death of Marvin Scott III has been reinstated.
Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner fired seven detention officers on April 1, two weeks after Scott, a Black man, died while in custody after being arrested on a charge of misdemeanor possession of marijuana. An eighth officer resigned while under investigation.
The Collin County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday morning that six of the detention officers appealed their terminations through the civil-service process and that on Friday, April 23, the employment of one of those officers was restored by appeal.
Marvin Scott III
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The sheriff's office said in a statement Tuesday morning that Skinner disagreed with the decision and was considering his options before the full Civil Service Commission.
It's not clear if the other five officers have received a decision on their appeal.
"Sheriff Skinner terminated these detention officers' employment following the Sheriff's Office's internal affairs investigation, which concluded that the officers violated well-established sheriff's office policies and procedures. In addition to his own review, the sheriff acted on the recommendation for termination of the supervisors in each officer's chain of command," the department said in a statement Tuesday morning.
Scott was arrested at the Allen Premium Outlets in March and while in the Collin County Jail he began to "exhibit some strange behavior," according to officials. Scott was put on a restraint bed where he later became unresponsive. He was then taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Marvin Scott III
An independent autopsy found Scott's death was likely caused by restraint and asphyxiation. The autopsy by the Collin County Medical Examiner has not yet been completed.
The names of the detention officers who were terminated after Scott's death have not been released.
Scott's family has called for the detention officers to be arrested and has asked repeatedly to see any video of Scott while in custody.
Last week, the NAACP of Collin County and civil rights attorneys representing Scott's family met with prosecutors in the Collin County District Attorney's Office for approximately two hours. Afterward, they demanded transparency in the investigation and to see all videos related to the investigation by this week.
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