St. Louis Sheriff under fire after using racial epithets against own deputy

A St. Louis City Sheriff is under fire for demoting a deputy that would not support him in his political career. The sheriff even used multiple racial epithets against the deputy while threatening to fire him for his actions, according to new audio obtained by the Riverfront Times in St. Louis.

St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts turned his aggression on Deputy Sheriff Steve Chalmers and by demoting Chalmers from the Civil Process Servers Unit to the Security Unit in November 2020, Chalmers has used that action as basis of a lawsuit against Betts and the Sheriff's Department. Chalmers had served seven years as a deputy.

When Chalmers questioned Betts on his demotion, Betts was completely transparent and told Chalmers it was because he did not have a sign in his front yard supporting Betts' candidacy.

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Betts let Chalmers know that he expected more loyalty from Chalmers since both are African-American, but audio shows Betts regularly referring to Chalmers by multiple racial epithets. Betts also changed Chalmers' work schedule, making him work nights and weekends as payback to not supporting his political career.

Betts states multiple times on the audio that he felt slighted because Chalmers did not give him his full support.