A San Antonio police officer accused of lying in his incident report was fired in November, according to suspension records obtained by KSAT 12 News.
Officer Morgan Lucas received the indefinite suspension notice on Nov. 16, two days before he was indicted and charged with tampering with a government record.
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The criminal charge and indefinite suspension stemmed from an incident on Nov. 22, 2019, when Lucas and another officer conducted a traffic stop in the 800 block of N. Hamilton.
After pulling over, the driver fled from police, resulting in a pursuit that led the driver to crash into another police car.
Investigators found multiple issues with how Lucas handled the incident.
Body-worn camera footage showed Lucas manually deactivating his own camera during the call. Lucas also ended the patrol car camera’s recording prematurely, according to the suspension documents.
When asked if the in-car camera was recording, Lucas conceded he stopped the camera, but reactivated it later in the call.
“During this investigation, it was determined the (car) video was stopped and started a total of three times,” according to the suspension record. “Officer Lucas failed to continuously record the event until its completion.”
Investigators also determined Lucas was “untruthful” when he indicated in the official police report that he and his partner did not pursue the vehicle. He also claimed in the report that the vehicle was “associated” with the driver and showed active warrants, though a review found that the car “had no association” to the driver, according to the records.
Tampering with a government record is a Class A misdemeanor. If convicted, Lucas faces up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.