A former San Antonio police officer whose career became the subject of national attention nearly a decade ago has been appointed police chief in a small South Texas community, as reported by The New Post.

Matthew Luckhurst officially assumed his new role as police chief of Benavides on June 1 after city leaders voted to promote him during an April 30 city council meeting.

The appointment comes years after Luckhurst was fired from the San Antonio Police Department following allegations that he left a sandwich containing dog feces for a homeless man.

The incident generated widespread media attention and ultimately led to multiple disciplinary actions during his law enforcement career.

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According to city records cited by the San Antonio Current, Luckhurst will earn $28 per hour as police chief in the town of roughly 1,100 residents located about 150 miles south of San Antonio.

Benavides officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the appointment.

The controversy surrounding Luckhurst dates back to 2016, when another officer accused him of placing dog feces between slices of bread inside a Styrofoam container and leaving it near a sleeping homeless man.

Reports indicated that the homeless man never consumed the sandwich.

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Luckhurst denied wrongdoing from the beginning. He maintained that the sandwich was intended to be discarded and not eaten by anyone.

The same year, Luckhurst faced another controversy when he was accused of defecating in a women's restroom at the San Antonio Police Department and smearing a “brown substance” on a toilet seat.

According to reports, he did not deny involvement in that incident.

At the time, Luckhurst had been with the San Antonio Police Department for approximately five years.

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His dismissal from the department led to a lengthy legal battle. In 2019, Luckhurst successfully appealed his firing and briefly returned to duty. However, the matter was not settled permanently.

A judge later reviewed the case and upheld his dismissal in 2020, ending his return to the San Antonio force.

Despite that setback, Luckhurst continued working in law enforcement.

In February 2022, he joined the police department in Floresville, another South Texas community. His tenure there lasted approximately 10 months before he was dismissed after renewed attention focused on his prior disciplinary history.

The next chapter of his law enforcement career began in 2023 when then-Benavides Police Chief Andrew Hines hired him as a police officer.

At the time, Hines defended the decision and said the hiring “reflects the department’s commitment to honesty and accountability.”

Three years later, city officials elevated Luckhurst to the department's top position.

The promotion places him in charge of policing operations for the small South Texas town despite the controversies that marked much of his previous law enforcement career.

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Luckhurst's appointment has drawn renewed attention to the events that led to his firing from San Antonio and subsequent dismissal from Floresville.

Supporters have pointed to his continued service in law enforcement since those incidents, while critics have questioned whether his disciplinary history should have prevented further advancement.

As of June 1, however, Luckhurst officially became the police chief of Benavides following the city council's vote and began overseeing the department's operations.

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