Last month, Texas state trooper Billy Spears posed for a photo with Snoop Dogg while he was doing off duty security for SXSW. That didn't sit well with his supervisor, who punished him for being in a photographed with somebody who had a prior drug arrest.
This struck many people as unfair. Now we get word Spears is suing the Department of Public Safety for the punishment, which he says has more to do with a prior compliant he made against the department than about him being in the same photo with Snoop.
His punishment wasn't that serious: he was given counseling. But according to his lawyer, that's a backhanded way to ruin an officer's career.
"Yet those counseling incidents can block a trooper’s chances for promotion or advancement," said attorney Ty Clevenger. "So it appears that DPS commanders are papering Billy’s file with counseling incidents because they can’t prove that he violated any law, order, or policy, and they know that he will beat them with the law and the facts if he is given an opportunity to appeal."Here's the Instagram post that's causing all the trouble.