Staff Sergeant Chad Staples took a bullet to protect a wounded solider, an act which left him paralyzed from the waist down. But when he was in need of a helping hand at a Texas Best Western hotel, the 28-year-old Army Ranger was mocked by a staff member.
Now the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran is pushing for "major policy changes."
After Staples found an elevator at the hotel to be out of order following a power outage, he phoned the desk seeking assistance bringing his bags and wheelchair down three flights of stairs.
Hotel clerk Holly Oyerbides allegedly laughed and refused his request, which prompted Staples to throw his bags and chair down the stairs, then slide down on his backside, Staples' father told Fox News.
According to MSNBC, Best Western apologized and refunded the cost of Staples' stay, but Staples isn't satisfied with that.
"I do want [Oyerbides] fired," Staples told CBS News. "No one should ever be in service, who acts like that. But beyond that, they need to change their entire policy on handicap rooms and where the rooms are located and who they give them to."
KOSA reported that veterans had gathered near the Best Western hotel in Monahans, Tex. to protest the treatment that Staples received. At least one activist group has called for a nationwide boycott of the hotel chain.