A former Austin police officer has resigned from the police department nearly five months after he fled to Mexico, after going through great lengths to reportedly stage his own death.

KXAN reports that Coleman Martin, 29, sparked a large-scale search in April when he left his truck by Lake Amistad, between the Texas and Mexico border, along with a handwritten suicide note that read he wanted to drown himself. On April 26, authorities released a public statement that Martin was missing.

Shortly after, a woman claiming to be “close” with Martin called authorities and said that he planned a fake suicide. She said Martin told her that he brought a bicycle with him and pedaled it around eight miles to Del Rio, where he used a phone at a convenience store to call for a cab to take him to the Mexico border.

On April 28, authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. He was detained on May 3 at the Dallas-Forth Worth airport and charged with one misdemeanor count of “false report.” The Austin Police Department put him on administrative leave shortly after while performed an internal investigation.

The police department immediately accepted his resignation this week, after Martin showed up at the Austin police headquarters with his attorney, Rachel Rogers, to hand in his letter of resignation.

“It’s very important that what he does now is taking care of himself and his family,” his attorney said.

The Austin Police Association issued an apology shortly after learning Martin attempted to fake his death, which ultimately ended up wasting resources and time.

“On behalf of the Austin Police Department, I would like to apologize to those groups that had to take their time and endanger their lives to search for this person.”

[Feature Photo: Austin PD]