Last week in Austin (TX), during South by Southwest, Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Billy Spears took a photo with Snoop Dogg for his Instagram account, captioning it “Me n my deputy dogg.” Unfortunately for Spears, when his superiors saw the photo on Snoop Dogg’s timeline, they decided to reprimand him for posing with the forty-three year old rapper and actor, citing Spears with “deficiencies indicating need for counseling.”
According to the complaint, “While working a secondary employment job, Trooper Spears took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known criminal background including numerous drug charges. The public figure posted the photo on social media and it reflects poorly on the Agency.” While the reprimand was not a disciplinary action, it will in fact remain on his personnel record.
Spears’ lawyer does not believe his photo with Snoop Dogg is the actual reason for the reprimand, stating, “This is not in their policy. They’re making this stuff up as they go,” and suggested that Spears’ report of misconduct last year against an officer of a different Texas law enforcement agency, may be what the counseling order is really about. Spears’ lawyer, Ty Clevenger, also said that “believe it or not, some folks don’t watch TMZ or read People Magazine,” and that Spears had no clue that the rapper had such a long arrest record.
Snoop Dogg, whose career began in 1992, got his first taste of legal trouble when he was arrested shortly after graduating high school for possession of cocaine. Just a year later, in 1993, he was arrested in connection with the death of rival gang member, Phillip Woldermarian, who Snoop Dogg’s bodyguard, McKinley Lee, shot and killed. Both were acquitted under the defense of Johnnie Cochran.
Since then, he’s been convicted of possession of a handgun, been sued for assaulting a fan onstage, arrested when airport screeners found a collapsible police baton in his carry-on bag, arrested for possession of marijuana, and arrested for vandalizing a shop with whiskey bottles, injuring seven police officers during the disturbance. He also has been temporarily banned from the United Kingdom, Norway, and Australia.
FDRMX Eyes: Be-Boys is a French music project based in Switzerland. The band has released a music video entitled “Je Dois Lui Dire / Should I Tell Him.”
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