A former Texas Department of Public Safety investigator says he was hounded out of his job and stripped of a retirement benefit after he refused to bury evidence in a Black trooper's racial discrimination complaint. Robert Russell, who spent 20 years with the agency, filed a lawsuit this month alleging that top DPS officials retaliated against him once he concluded the trooper's complaint might actually be legitimate.
Russell worked for the DPS Office of Inspector General and was assigned to the racial discrimination case in late 2024, according to the lawsuit as reported by KXAN Austin. The underlying complaint came from a Black DPS officer who alleged that a white supervisor imposed harsher discipline on him than on non-Black coworkers for the same, similar, or worse conduct. Russell reported that he could not find an explanation for the disparate treatment the officer described, per the lawsuit.
According to the suit, Russell says he was yelled at and threatened with unwarranted disciplinary action as he pushed the investigation forward. He was told he was going too far and conducting a biased investigation, the lawsuit states. Multiple high-ranking DPS officers complained about the questions Russell asked in interviews related to the case, according to the filing, and he says he faced false accusations of policy violations along the way.
A Meeting That Ended the Investigation
Russell was removed from the investigation after a meeting with Inspector General Phillip Ayala and four other high-ranking officers, the lawsuit alleges. Per the filing, Ayala said he would remove Russell from the investigation and eventually from his investigator position one way or another. Ayala also allegedly threatened to put Russell in an undesirable position if he did not find another job outside the Office of Inspector General.
Russell says he continued his investigation despite the pressure described in his lawsuit, and shared his observations with Deputy Inspector General Adam Kinslow. He was later asked to turn over his draft investigation prematurely, according to the suit, and he says the resulting report was incomplete and left out substantial portions of the evidence he had gathered. A DPS supervisor then used Russell's draft to show a lack of evidence in the case, the lawsuit alleges.
DPS reassigned Russell to a position in Austin, according to the lawsuit, one he considered humiliating and unsuitable for a lieutenant with 20 years of experience. He says the reassignment caused him great financial and emotional expense. While DPS did not reduce his salary, Russell claims he lost his eligibility for the commissioned Special Ranger benefit available to DPS retirees, a designation for which he says he was qualified. Under Texas Government Code § 411.023, the Public Safety Commission can appoint honorably retired commissioned DPS officers as Special Rangers, granting them peace officer authority subject to commission and gubernatorial orders. Russell retired prematurely on September 19, 2025.
The Legal Claims and What DPS Is Saying
Russell filed his lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety on August 5, alleging retaliation after he shared his belief that the internal racial discrimination complaint may have been legitimate. His suit seeks back and front pay equal to what he may have earned had he not been removed from his position, along with noneconomic compensatory damages, attorney fees, costs, settlement interest, and other court-awarded compensation. The lawsuit also seeks damages intended to discourage retaliatory actions, though the amount sought is unspecified.
Russell's claims fall under Texas Labor Code § 21.055, which makes it unlawful for a state agency to retaliate against an employee who opposes an unlawful discriminatory practice, files an internal complaint, or participates in an investigation, according to the Office of the Texas Governor. That same chapter caps noneconomic compensatory damages for pain, suffering, and mental anguish at $300,000 per plaintiff for large state employers, though back pay and attorney fees are calculated separately. A DPS spokesperson said the agency does not discuss pending litigation.
The Office of Inspector General that Russell worked within is an independent division created by the Texas Legislature in 2011 to investigate internal misconduct allegations, reporting directly to the Public Safety Commission rather than to agency executive staff, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Ayala was appointed Inspector General in 2019. The division has previously investigated high-profile allegations against DPS, including a December 2023 probe that cleared agency leadership of systemic wrongdoing after a department medic alleged troopers were instructed to withhold water and push migrants back into the Rio Grande, according to the Texas Tribune.
A Department Under Growing Legal Scrutiny
Russell's lawsuit arrives roughly six months after a federal jury in Austin found DPS liable for racial harassment and retaliation against two Black state troopers, ordering the agency to pay $1.66 million in damages, as Hoodline reported earlier this year. That case, which originated from internal complaints filed in 2018 alleging minority officers were passed over for promotion and given heavier workloads, included testimony that a white supervisor mocked a Black trooper and accused him of trying to turn his unit into a “Buffalo Soldiers” unit, according to the Atlanta Black Star. Another Black officer testified he was placed in a minority-only unit assigned heavier workloads. The jury awarded $875,000 to one trooper and $787,500 to the other in emotional distress damages.
DPS filed a motion for a mistrial after that verdict while maintaining its policy of declining public comment on active litigation, according to Hot 100.9. State attorneys had argued during that trial that personnel decisions were driven by non-discriminatory business reasons. Separately, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in April that DPS lawfully terminated an officer whose mental health condition impaired his job performance, finding that Chapter 21 protections do not shield employees who cannot perform essential duties.
DPS's internal disciplinary processes have also drawn scrutiny in other cases. In December 2024, a former DPS trooper surrendered his law enforcement license and pleaded no contest to official oppression following an internal OIG probe into an August 2022 traffic stop, a case that led to his termination for misconduct. Together, the cases point to a pattern of legal challenges testing how DPS investigates and disciplines its own officers, even as the agency continues to decline comment on Russell's pending suit.
