Wyoming's first Black sheriff, Aaron Appelhans, fired white deputy over alleged racism, lawsuit says

Cheyenne, Wyoming — Wyoming's first Black sheriff last year fired a White deputy who is accused of tormenting a Black subordinate for years with racist name-calling that led him to quit, a new federal lawsuit reveals.Albany County Patrol Sergeant Christian Handley once drove past and yelled a profanity and the N-word at Corporal Jamin Johnson while Johnson and his wife and children were walking out of their home, according to one example of racism alleged in the discrimination lawsuit filed last week. An internal review two months after Appelhans took office found that despite Handley's "widespread and well-known" racism, Handley was emboldened by getting preferential treatment for promotions ahead of the more-experienced Johnson, the lawsuit alleges. Handley began subjecting Johnson to "overt and abhorrent racism" when they were both deputies from 2011 to 2014 and Johnson was the department's only Black officer, the lawsuit alleges.