Grand Prairie officer resigns, accused of pointing gun at Dallas ride-share driver
A Grand Prairie police officer who was arrested last month in Dallas after authorities say he pointed a handgun at a ride-share driver while he was off-duty has resigned from the department, Grand Prairie police officials said Tuesday.
Matthew Huber, a three-year veteran of the department, resigned on Jan. 7, just hours before he was scheduled to appear at a disciplinary hearing.
Huber was arrested Dec. 12 in Dallas after allegedly pointing the weapon at the driver, according to Grand Prairie police. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
“It is my expectation that all Grand Prairie Police employees, on or off-duty, conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high level of trust placed in us by the public we serve,” said Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney in a Tuesday news release. “Any actions that violate that trust are inconsistent with our organizational values and will not be tolerated.”
Shortly after his arrest, Huber was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
His handgun used in the crime was not a weapon issued or owned by the Grand Prairie Police Department, according to the news release.
Huber was hired in 2017 and he had no previous disciplinary action in his personnel file, according to Grand Prairie police officials.
The Dallas case against Huber remains under investigation, authorities said.
A warrant for Huber’s arrest provided this account of the incident:
At about 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 12, an Uber driver picked up Huber at Bottled Blonde beer garden in Dallas.
As they were headed to the officer’s destination, Huber asked the driver where he was from and the officer began speaking Arabic.
The driver told Dallas police he became offended and told Huber to calm down or get out of the van.
Huber picked up his black Glock X19 and pointed it at the driver’s head, according to the warrant. The driver grabbed Huber’s gun, exited the van and threw the gun on the ground.
At that point, the driver saw a Dallas police officer and yelled that Huber had a gun. Huber fled the scene on foot, but he was arrested after a brief foot pursuit.
The Dallas police officer wrote in his report that Huber smelled of “strong alcohol odor” and his eyes “were blood shot red,” according to the warrant.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 9:57 AM.
