Personnel file for Glendale Police officer reveals history of bad conduct

GLENDALE, Ariz. (FOX 10) -- FOX 10 is learning more about a Glendale Police officer at the center of a controversial tasing incident that happened in 2017.

During the incident, officers reportedly pulled Johnny Wheatcroft's pants down, while he was in custody, and shocked his testicles. When asked on Monday, Police officials referred to that area as Wheatcroft's thigh. They also contend that Wheatcroft remained combative, even though his feet are tangled in the seatbelt.

Wheatcroft's arrest has since led to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Wheatcroft and his family. They claim the situation spiraled out of control when Wheatcroft declined to show his ID to the officer. Glendale Police officials have since faced some tough questions over the officers' actions.

The personnel files of Matthew Schneider show an accomplished officer with a history of bad conduct on the job.

Schnieder was hired in 2003, and since then, he has worked his way up to becoming a leader and a senior officer on the neighborhood response squad.

While his annual performance reviews show he is a hard-working police officer that has met or exceeded expectations, his disciplinary records and other comments reveal a history of bad behavior, as well as an attitude that has led to conflicts with fellow officers. Schneider, according to records, has violated Glendale Police department policy at least five times, and there is one incident that was not fully investigated.

In addition, Schneider has been suspended without pay for three separate incidents. That includes the incident involving Wheatcroft, which Schneider was suspended for 30 hours for the tasing, in addition for kicking Wheatcroft in his groin area while he was handcuffed.

After Wheatcroft's attorney filed a civil lawsuit, public outcry and harsh criticism from the Governor, the County Attorney re-opened the aggravated assault case against Schneider and turned it over to the FBI for review.

The two prior suspensions Schneider served were for failing to obey a direct order, which resulted in him injuring a fellow officer with a knife, and for destroying potential evidence while serving a search warrant, which led to prosecutors dropping the case.

A year ago, Schneider received a written reprimand for workplace harassment, after a female officer filed a complaint against him. Nearly all the administrative investigation reports detailing what Schneider did that resulted in disciplinary action were missing from the more than 200 pages of personnel file that were released to FOX 10. The Glendale City Clerk's office is in the process of gathering those reports.