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Sheriff’s Deputy Pleads Guilty, Even as Many Say His Actions Saved Lives | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

September 29, 2023

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Deputy James Buchanan leaves the county courthouse today. Despite pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges, many say he’s a hero.

A deputy with the St. Louis City Sheriff’s Office pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter today in St. Louis County. The plea hearing lasted only about 20 minutes but was filled with tension, as Judge Ellen Ribaudo’s courtroom was packed with both supporters of deputy James Buchanan as well as the family of the man he killed.

Buchanan’s plea has its roots in a carjacking in Spanish Lake on July 6, 2020.

That day, 71-year-old Stephen Burgett was with his grandson in the drive-thru of a McDonalds in Spanish Lake, getting ready to go on a fishing trip, when 27-year-old William Burgess suddenly began attacking Burgett through the window of his pickup truck.

“He comes through the window of my truck and stabs me in the chest with a screwdriver.” Burgett tells the RFT.

Burgett says that his first reaction was to protect his grandson, who at the time was 10 years old. Then he started fighting off Burgess. Burgett says he was lucky because he was able to catch his attacker’s hand just as he was being stabbed, preventing the screwdriver from penetrating too far into his chest.

“He was hitting me. I was hitting him,” Burgett recalls. “He rolled out of the truck and he’s on top of me.”

Burgett thinks Burgess must have been high, noting that he hit his assailant in the head several times but Burgess seemed totally unfazed by the blows.

Burgess eventually climbed into the driver’s seat of Burgett’s pickup and started to drive away.

However, witnesses say Burgess did a u-turn and drove up on the sidewalk where Burgett and his grandson were standing.

Burgess plowed into Burgett with Burgett’s own truck. “Tore this whole leg up. Up to my hip,” Burgett says, as he shows off his scars outside the courtroom.

Burgett’s grandson hid behind a tree, but Burgess sped toward him and crashed the truck into the tree. Burgett says his grandson, now 13, still has nightmares about the day.

click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Stephen Burgett recounts the carjacking he and his grandson were victims of.

Burgett is convinced the 27-year-old was trying to kill him and his grandson and would have done so if not for Buchanan, the sheriff’s deputy who happened to be driving by.

Buchanan was on his way to work at the sheriff’s office when he saw Burgess flee the scene on foot after crashing the truck into the tree. Buchanan gave chase. What exactly transpired is unclear, but the deputy followed Burgess between two houses and shot the 27-year-old in the left abdomen, killing him.

Buchanan was originally charged with second-degree murder in October 2021, but prosecutors lowered the charges to involuntary manslaughter. Buchanan will serve three years’ probation, during which time he’ll be barred from owning a firearm or ammunition.

Burgess’ mother, Erinn Wicks, spoke at the hearing today, saying that she felt the man who took her son’s life ought to get a stiffer sentence. “Mr. James Buchanan, I would like to know how you chase someone down and shoot him? Why did you have to get involved?” she said. She accused Buchanan of “trying to be a hero.”

She acknowledged her son had issues, but said, “Did he deserve to die?” No.”

At the hearing, members of Burgess’ family had signs memorializing their dead loved one. As they left the courtroom, there was a heated exchange of words between Wicks and Sara Buck, the mother of the boy whom Burgess allegedly tried to run over outside the McDonald’s (and Burgett’s daughter).

Wicks left the courtroom after the exchange, leaving Buck to be chastised by Judge Ribaudo.

“Do you want to go to jail today?” the judge asked Buck, telling her there couldn’t be any additional outbursts.

Ribaudo said that she understood Wicks’ son had done wrong, but he lost his life and Wicks lost a son. The judge added that Buck’s father had already been through a horrible experience, and there wasn’t any reason to make a tragedy any worse than it already was.

Outside the courtroom, Burgett tearfully hugged Buchanan and thanked him, seemingly not for the first time.

“He shouldn’t be here,” Burgett said of the man he’s convinced saved his life. Of Buchanan’s guilty plea, he said, “It’s an atrocity. He did his job.”

Sheriff Vernon Betts, who was in court today, has stood steadfastly behind Buchanan. Sources close to the Sheriff’s Office indicate Buchanan will remain employed there, though he will not be able to use firearms during his period on probation.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

12 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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