A Port Arthur Police officer who was arrested last year on family violence charges but not indicted is back on the force.
Officer George Clark, 33, was reinstated about three weeks ago, Port Arthur Police Chief Mark Blanton said.
“Officer George Clark appealed his indefinite suspension and an arbitrator reinstated him,” Blanton said. “We’re bound by that ruling.”
Under police contract, an officer under suspicion can appeal a decision to an independent arbitrator and that decision is binding, he said.
Clark was a patrol officer prior to the incident and has returned to police duties at the station.
Clark was arrested for Class A assault-family violence by Beaumont Police Department officers after a call of a disturbance at 9:19 p.m. Aug. 8 in the 3900 block of Sarah Street off of Fannett Road. Based on reports from independent witnesses at the scene, a disturbance had occurred between a man and a woman in the common area of the complex there, according to a press release from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office, according to a story that ran in the June 9, 2014 edition of the Port Arthur News.
The alleged victim did not wish to file charges against Clark, who was then detained and taken into custody by BPD.
Two separate charges of terroristic threat and unlawful restraint were presented to the grand jury for consideration. Both offenses were Class A misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in county jail or up to a $4,000 fine. In November, 2014, a Jefferson County grand jury decided to take no action against Clark for a misdemeanor assault case. Clark had been on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the district attorney’s findings.
In July 2010, Clark was charged with a misdemeanor charge of assault-family violence. He was not convicted per a pretrial diversion program for anger management, according to court documents.
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