MCKINNEY, Texas — Two jailers who were fired in the 2021 in-custody death of Marvin Scott have been reinstated by the Collin County Civil Service Commission, which reviewed the jailers' appeals in a hearing this month.
Officials aren't releasing the names of the jailers who got their jobs back, and the Civil Service Commission has not given a reason why they made their decision.
One of the jailers was a former sergeant who will be demoted to detention officer, and the other, an officer, will have to serve a 10-day suspension.
Two other jailers, a captain and another sergeant, also appealed their firings but their appeals were denied by the commission.
The commission ruled that all four jailers "violated well-established jail policies and procedures" but did not provide more investigation about its review.
The commission held the appeal proceedings from March 21 through March 24 and closed the meetings to the public.
Eight officers were initially investigated in Scott's death, which happened March 14, 2021 at the Collin County jail.
All eight were cleared of charges by a grand jury last year: Blaise Mikulewicz, Austin Wong, Justin Patrick, Rafael Paredez, James Schoelen, Alec Diftta, Andres Cardenas and Christopher Windsor.
It was unclear which four officers appealed their firings and which two got their jobs back.
How did Marvin Scott die?
Scott, 26, died of "fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement," according to the Collin County Medical Examiner.
His death was ruled a homicide.
Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner has said that an internal investigation found that Scott died after multiple policies and procedures were violated.
Scott was taken into custody on March 14 by Allen police, who said he was arrested for alleged possession of marijuana under 2 ounces, which is a class B misdemeanor.
The incident started with security personnel at the Allen Outlet Mall alerting Allen police to Scott in the parking lot. Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said police were initially called because of the suspected smell of marijuana.
Paramedics took Scott to a hospital first because police thought he had taken drugs and said he was acting in an erratic manner. He spent three hours there before he was taken to jail.
Scott was transported to the Collin County Detention Facility around 6 p.m. that day.
Skinner said while in the jail's booking lobby, Scott exhibited some "strange behavior," so detention officers tried to secure him to a restraint bed. He said during the process the officers used pepper spray once and also placed a spit mask on his face.
About four hours later, around 10:30 p.m. while being placed on the restraint bed, Skinner said Scott became unresponsive. Nursing staff called an ambulance and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Jailers appeal process
The fired jailers began the appeal process last summer, after the grand jury cleared all jailers involved in the case.
Their attorney Robert Rogers told WFAA in June that his clients would soon seek reinstatement of their jobs at the jail through the Civil Service Commission.
"What happened here is a tragedy and I won't gloss over that fact, but the actions of the jailers were not criminal," Rogers said.
Rogers called his clients "law enforcement officers with hundreds of thousands of hours of training and experience.
"They were doing everything they were taught to safely restrain Mr. Scott," Rogers said.
What the video showed
In July, the sheriff's department released 40 minutes of surveillance video from inside the county jail on the day Scott died.
The video, which did not have audio due to the jail's recording system not having that capability, began with one officer approaching Scott's cell. There appeared to be a brief conversation between Scott and the officer before the cell door is opened and Scott comes out. His arm was seen wrapped around a slot in the cell door. There was a brief struggle outside the cell and four officers then escort Scott into another room that contains a restraint bed.
Once Scott was in the room, he was laid down on the restraint bed and six officers attempted to strap down his lower body, the video showed. It appeared Scott was saying something to officers but without audio it was unclear.
Watch the video here:
Four minutes into the video, the detention officers struggled with Scott on the bed. An officer sprayed him with mace inches from his face. Another officer put a spit hood over Scott's head. The hood was a piece of breathable fabric commonly used by officers to prevent someone from spitting or biting.
Scott tried to get up from the bed several times but officers forced him back down. The video showed one officer has a knee to Scott's side. Meanwhile officers could be seen placing restraints on Scott's upper body.
Nineteen minutes into the video, officers appeared to be in a frenzy and Scott appeared motionless. Officers removed the restraints and begin doing chest compressions. They would do chest compressions for 13 straight minutes.
Thirty-three minutes into the video an automatic chest compressor is installed and is used for more than six minutes. The compressor sat over Scott's chest and provides repeated compressions automatically. Scott was ultimately transferred to a gurney and rushed out of the room.