Officer Michael McCaffety is suspended until April 6 for verbally abusing a suspect, agency records show.
SAN ANTONIO — An officer with the San Antonio Police Department received a 15-day suspension for a 2024 incident centered on the mistreatment of a detainee, disciplinary records show.
According to agency documents, SAPD Officer Michael E. McCaffety was initially served a 30-day suspension that was subsequently reduced to 15 days.
On the morning of Aug. 17, 2024, McCaffety and another officer responded to a call for a rape-in-progress on Northwest 24th and West Martin Street, on San Antonio’s west side. Upon arriving, records say, the officers conducted an investigative stop of a vehicle and took the driver into custody.
It was later determined that the driver was the person who called police, according to SAPD records. However, when the officers arrived and investigated the scene, they found no indication of a rape.
The driver was ultimately arrested on numerous charges.
Records say that when SAPD personnel reviewed McCaffety’s body camera recordings, however, he could be heard using inappropriate language towards the detainee, subjecting him “to verbal abuse.”
McCaffety is recorded making multiple vulgar statements to the prisoner:
- “You don’t f***ing interrupt me when I’m talking to you again.”
- “Now how much f***ing meth did you put into your f***ing system that you saw something you didn’t f***ing see?”
The suspension records also say a review of digital evidence revealed that detainee requested that his money “be counted in front of him numerous times.” McCaffety denied his requests, records say, “failing to ensure that (the suspect’s) property was accounted for.”
Finally, documents say body camera footage revealed the officer disregarded red traffic lights four separate times at several intersections with the prisoner inside the vehicle, concluding he failed “to operate his assigned patrol vehicle in a safe manner.”
McCaffety was found to have violated multiple SAPD policies, including those pertaining to treatment of suspects and safe operation of vehicles. His suspension started Sunday and is set to conclude on April 6.