BALLWIN, Mo. – New court documents state that a former Ballwin Police Chief ousted from the role last year drove a city vehicle while intoxicated on “at least a few occasions.”

Douglas Schaeffler, who served as Ballwin’s police chief from parts of 2019 to 2023, was placed on paid leave last October and terminated in a closed-door meeting in December . Initially, both happened at the time without much explanation to media members.

According to new court documents, formally filed on Sept. 13, an investigation determined that Schaeffler purchased alcohol, then at times operated a city vehicle while consuming alcohol or intoxicated.

Court documents also allege that Schaeffler created a culture of socializing by drinking or smoking to succeed within the department, with at least one patrol officer claiming he was denied a promotion for his decision to not participate in such activities.

The new documents, similar to previous court filings, also indicated that Schaeffler misused the Regional Justice Information System (REJIS) in obtaining information and linked him to harassment within the department.

A spokesperson for the City of Ballwin, in response to the new documents, referred FOX 2 to a January Facebook post from Mayor Tim Pogue that brought forth some of these allegations against Schaeffler.

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The new documents come as Schaeffler challenges the City of Ballwin with a lawsuit over what his attorneys allege as wrongful termination.

In June, an unrelated class-action lawsuit was filed against the City of Ballwin and its former police chief over Schaeffler’s alleged misuse of access with the REJIS system, questioning whether the system was used for proper law enforcement purposes.

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