Austin Police Department

AMERICAN-STATESMAN file photo/American-Statesman

A police officer has been fired after the Austin Police Department says he broke into the home of a fellow officer who had ended a romantic relationship with him.

Interim Police Chief Brian Manley indefinitely suspended Officer Michael Stone on Friday after an internal affairs investigation found Stone had lied repeatedly during an investigation into a summer incident in which he forced open the garage door of a Kyle home.

The home belonged to a woman identified as "Officer X" in a disciplinary memo made public on Monday.

The memo states that Stone and the woman had a romantic relationship for at least for a few years that the woman broke off in early July. She cut off all communication with Stone, who repeatedly tried to reach her.

When Stone learned of a Facebook post that could have been indicative that X was seeing someone else, he sent a text message to another officer stating "I’m going to lose my (expletive)."

That same day, July 13, Stone drove to X’s house on the pretext that he was concerned for her welfare, the memo said. She was home, but did not answer the door and remained silent.

Stone then went around to the back of the home where he used an electronic code to enter the garage before forcing his way through a door into a utility room, the memo said. The woman confronted Stone there and "a verbal disturbance ensued," the memo said.

Stone went back to X’s home on Aug. 4. He told internal affairs that he intended to meet with a neighbor involved in a car collision with Stone in 2015, the memo said.

However, a witness told Kyle police that Stone parked in the driveway of the woman’s home and went into her backyard. She called 911, but Stone had left by the time Kyle police arrived.

Kyle police called Stone, telling him they needed to meet so he could receive a trespass warning. He refused, telling officers he needed to speak to his lawyer and supervisor before taking the warning.

Stone never contacted his supervisor, as required under Austin police policy, the memo said.

The memo states that Stone was untruthful multiple times during his statements to internal affairs and that he attempted to minimize damage done to the woman’s door in the July 13 incident.

Stone can appeal his firing.