San Antonio police officer gets 30-day suspension for shopping, home visits while on duty

A San Antonio police officer last month received a 30-day suspension without pay after an internal affairs probe found that he went shopping for auto parts while on duty and visited his home during times when he should have been handling service calls, KSAT reports, citing department records.

The same officer, Mark Walaski, received an indefinite suspension in 2017 after SAPD concluded that he’d had a relationship with a woman accused of prostitution, according to KSAT. He returned to work the following year after reaching a negotiated settlement with the department, an SAPD spokesperson told the TV station.

In the disciplinary action handed down last month, Walaski was suspended for neglect of duty, conduct prejudicial to good order and acts showing a lack of good moral character, according to KSAT’s reporting of city documents.

Acting on a complaint, internal affairs investigators found that Walaski visited an AutoZone in his patrol area on Aug. 2 and purchased items for his personal use while he was in uniform and driving a police vehicle, according to records cited in the story. 

What’s more, investigators gleaned that Walaski visited his home on three separate occasions while assigned to service calls, according to KSAT. The officer’s body cam captured the incidents, the station reports, noting that the footage showed him “checking on his personal vehicles and handling personal business.”

In the case of his earlier suspension, Walaski was accused of dating a woman in July 2016 when she had an active warrant for prostitution. The same year, the officer bailed her out of jail on warrants for two separate prostitution charges, then in 2017, he began paying for an apartment for the woman, the station reports, citing disciplinary documents.

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This article appears in Nov 15-28, 2023.