Chris Callaway served 16 years with the Department of Public Safety, rising from trooper to Texas Ranger before his PTSD and alcoholism led to multiple medical leaves. On January 15, 2020, while still on medical leave for treatment, Callaway received word that his daughter's high school planned to detain her for a mental health crisis. He grabbed his DPS badge, handcuffs, and personal firearm, then rushed to the school where he loudly confronted counselors in a small office, ordered responding police officers to 'get out of my office right now,' and threatened to prove 'who has got a bigger set of handcuffs' by putting them 'in jail for interfering with [his] rights as a parent.'
The Texas Supreme Court unanimously rejected Callaway's disability discrimination lawsuit, finding that his PTSD objectively impaired his ability to serve as a law enforcement officer. As Justice Sullivan wrote for the court, 'DPS can't give someone a sidearm and a badge, send him out to handle stressful interactions with other Texans, and then have that officer snap under pressure. To do so would unreasonably endanger citizens and officers alike.' The court noted that by 'throwing his weight around' with the school district police, Callaway 'created a grave risk of blue-on-blue violence.'
The court's strongest language came in rejecting any notion that Texas labor law protects officers whose disabilities prevent safe job performance. 'Were the law otherwise, any person who, for instance, wishes to be a ballerina or professional basketball player could routinely sue for disability discrimination if the Bolshoi or the San Antonio Spurs declined employment,' Justice Sullivan wrote, quoting a 2014 opinion by then-Justice Willett.
DPS Director Steve McCraw had testified during Callaway's discharge appeal that while he understood parental emotions, 'a DPS Officer has an obligation to control their emotions when they get there, plain and simple.' McCraw explained that 'when you have your badge displayed in that way, you're using your position as a DPS special agent to... interfere with the official response of police in another police agency.' The director concluded that 'we can't afford to have a trooper, a special agent, or Texas Ranger that can't control their emotions.'
Callaway had acknowledged his limitations during DPS's investigation, submitting an affidavit stating that due to 'repeated exposure to trauma and learned behavior by a brain,' he 'stay[s] in an elevated state of hypervigilance' and 'when it takes over, things often end with less than optimal outcomes.' One school counselor reported that she 'felt trapped and feared for [her] safety and [her] life' during the confrontation and had 'never been so afraid.' Local prosecutors initially filed criminal charges including abuse of official capacity and official oppression, though they later dropped the charges.
The court found that Section 21.105 of the Texas Labor Code bars disability discrimination claims when the disability 'impair[s] an individual's ability to reasonably perform a job.' Justice Sullivan noted that this creates an objective standard that prevents employers from firing disabled workers based on 'idiosyncratic' definitions of job performance, but doesn't protect workers whose disabilities genuinely prevent safe job execution. The court criticized Callaway for devoting 'less than a full page' of his brief to this crucial statutory provision and for 'citing Section 21.105 zero times.'
The ruling reverses the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, which had allowed Callaway's disability discrimination claim to proceed to trial while dismissing his retaliation claims for lack of jurisdiction. The Texas Supreme Court's decision effectively ends Callaway's lawsuit, finding his claim 'fails as a matter of law' under state disability discrimination statutes. The court concluded by noting that while 'Texans should give thanks for men like Chris Callaway,' DPS Director McCraw's termination decision 'promoted public safety' and didn't violate employment law.