The city of Anchorage will pay $300,000 in compensation to a former police officer who sued for racial discrimination

The city of Anchorage has paid $300,000 to a former Anchorage police officer who sued the city for racial discrimination.

Jared Tuia, a former Anchorage police officer who has been a Samoan for more than 20 years, sued the city in 2019. In his initial statement of claim, Tuia alleged that he was passed over for three different promotions and candidates with less experience and education were promoted instead.

In a 2015 case, Tuia claimed that after he was not promoted from lieutenant to captain, a superior told him he could do great things “somewhere other than APD.” In another case, in 2018, a former APD lieutenant asked why Tuia was passed over for a promotion and was told that then-Police Chief Justin Doll had already decided who would be promoted before soliciting applications. Tuia’s attorney claimed that the manner in which officers were promoted violated the department’s equal employment opportunity policy.

Tuia received a “right to sue” letter from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August 2019 and filed his lawsuit in October of that year. Tuia retired from the police force in July 2020 with the rank of lieutenant.

Court records show the case was dismissed on Sept. 16. The Anchorage Department of Corrections presented a report to the Assembly Friday showing that a $300,000 legal settlement was paid out to Tuia between July and September.

A lawyer for Tuia declined to comment on the settlement. The Anchorage Department of Corrections did not respond to multiple requests for information about the settlement.

In 2017, two more former officers received more than $2 million from the city after a jury found the two were treated unfairly by the Anchorage Police Department because of their race.