Two Collin County detention employees terminated in April 2021 after the in-custody death of a prisoner were reinstated this month.
Marvin Scott III was arrested at the Allen Premium Outlets in March 2021 for misdemeanor possession of fewer than two ounces of marijuana. 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.
Following Scott's death, Sheriff Jim Skinner fired seven employees, including a detention captain, a detention lieutenant, two detention sergeants, and three detention officers, saying they violated "well-established policies" with regard to Scott's treatment.
An eighth officer resigned while under investigation.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Four of the fired employees, the captain, two sergeants, and an officer, appealed their terminations. Hearings for the appeals were held by the Collin County Civil Service Commission last week and the commission found that all four had violated jail policies and procedures.
Marvin Scott III
"The commission affirmed the terminations of the captain and one sergeant. But the commission reinstated the other sergeant with a demotion to a detention officer, and the commission reinstated the remaining detention officer with a 10-day suspension," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The commission denied all claims for back pay.
After an independent autopsy found Scott's death was likely caused by restraint and asphyxiation, Dr. William Rohr with the Collin County Medical Examiner's Office said Scott's cause of death was "fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement" and that "the manner of death is listed as homicide."
In June 2021, a Collin County grand jury declined to indict the terminated officers involved in the case.
The names of the sheriff's department employees involved in the incident have not been released.
