A Picture with Snoop Dogg Gets You Dropped like It’s Hot

Texas State Trooper, Billy Spears, was working an off-duty security job last year at the Austin Music Festival. During one of the shows, Snoop Dogg (birth name Calvin Broaddus) posed for a photo with Spears, the rapper’s arm slung over guard’s shoulder. Snoop posted the photo online with the caption, “Me n my deputy dogg.”

Spears’ superiors saw the photo and disciplined him for taking the picture. Snoop Dogg apparently had a criminal record for drug-related charges and the department saw the photo as a bad representation of the force. Spears, however, contends the reprimand for the photo was a mere pretext for an internal complaint he made against another law enforcement official.

In a whistleblower lawsuit that was filed this week, Spears alleges the department was retaliating against him for “asserting his rights and complaining about alleged bullying by an Alcoholic Beverage Control officer.” Spears had been detained for carrying alcohol, while off duty, at a concert.

The suit was filed in Travis County, Texas and seeks unspecified damages. The Department of Public Safety, the entity that was named in the suit, declined to provide any further details or to comment on the case.

Source: ABA Journal