Matthew Luckhurst won an appeal to overturn his dismissal for giving a homeless person a feces sandwich, but still faces another indefinite suspension for a feces-related prank in a women's restroom

A police officer in Texas who had been fired after he gave a homeless person a sandwich full of feces and then had his dismissal overturned on a technicality is facing a torrent of abuse online.

San Antonio Police Officer Matthew Luckhurst somehow managed to keep his job after the disgusting incident which saw him pick up some dog poo, place it onto a piece of bread before placing the 'sandwich' in a Styrofoam container of a 'half-eaten meal' provided by a local religious group for the San Antonio. homeless.

Luckhurst placed it next to a sleeping homeless man who would ultimately wake, pick up the container looking at the contents, and possibly eating them.

Members of the public are not holding back in their criticism of the officer online.

'San Antonio cop Matthew Luckhurst is a #sick #f***!!!' wrote one. 'Should of been punished horrible person and should of been fired but that’s SAPD for you no morals and no justice,' said another.

'Sick sick sick!!! He’s sworn to protect everyone! What a piece of garbage!! Why does he still have a badge? Disgraceful man' wrote another Twitter user.

'What a CRUEL & DISGUSTING human!' said another poster online. 'He seems to either have a fetish for poop or is mentally a 6 year old that never grew up. He should’ve been punished with eating his own feces sandwich.

Members of the public are not holding back in their criticism of the officer online

The overpass area in San Antonio, Texas, where the feces sandwich incident allegedly occurred in 2016 (file photo of the Interstate 35 overpass at West Houston Street)

The arbitrator ruled that the punishment for Matthew Luckhurst had been appropriate, but it fell outside the time limit for bringing such discipline onto an officer

The officer managed to keep his job after a date discrepancy led an arbitrator to overturn his dismissal enabling him to get off on a technicality arguing that the incident fell outside the window for allowing him to be indefinitely suspended, and an arbitrator agreed with him earlier this month, KSAT reported.

'The indefinite suspension is overturned due to the violation of the 180-days prohibition,' the arbitrator wrote in his decision based on the rule that Luckhurst's discipline fell outside of the time limit on punishing his behavior.

The arbitrator noted that while the suspension was overturned, the punishment was 'reasonable based on just cause for Luckhurst's action whether intentionally or grossly inappropriate, regarding the fecal sandwich being placed in a container close to a homeless person.'

Another bike officer reported that he told Luckhurst, a five-year veteran of the force, that he could not just leave the container next to the homeless person, and told him to go back and dispose of it.

The officer said he watched Luckhurst bike back and assumed that he threw it away, but it's not confirmed that he did.

Luckhurst was notified of his dismissal on October 28 of that year which fell within the 180-day window if the incident happened in May as originally believed, but the officer reviewed his medical records that would challenge the assumption.

According to his records, the officer had suffered an injury during a martial arts class that left him on light duty between April 6 and June 14, 2016, and would not have been able to ride his bicycle in May.

Witness and hearsay testimony in the record also provided vague or contradictory dates regarding the incident, there was no body cam or video footage to corroborate the date and authorities were unable to identify or locate the homeless man referenced.

His suspension was reduced to five days by the arbitrator for another incident where he failed to arrest another homeless person who had a warrant.

Another officer reported Luckhurst's actions to his supervisor in 2016, who then notified internal affairs of the shocking incident in July of that year. Officials said he had been assigned to downtown bike patrol before he was fired (file photo of police headquarters)

While he won this particular appeal, the former officer has yet another feces related claim he needs to address from 2016.

Luckhurst was given a second indefinite suspension in December of 2016 over an allegation that he and another male officer had defecated in a toilet assigned to women in the bike patrol office.

'The toilet was left unflushed by both officers intentionally,' the suspension document states.