The Municipality of Anchorage has agreed to pay $300,000 to a former Anchorage police officer who sued the city over racial discrimination.
Jared Tuia, who is Samoan and spent more than 20 years in policing, sued the city in 2019. In his initial filing, Tuia alleged that he was passed over for three different promotions, and candidates with less experience and education were promoted instead.
In one 2015 instance, Tuia alleged that after he wasn’t promoted from lieutenant to captain, he was told by a superior that he could accomplish great things “somewhere other than the APD.” In another instance, 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’d be promoted before soliciting applications. Tuia’s attorney alleged that the manner of promoting officers violated the department’s equal employment opportunity policy.
Tuia received a “right to sue” letter from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August of 2019, and filed his lawsuit in October of that year. Tuia retired from the police department in July 2020, at the rank of lieutenant.
Court records show that the case was dismissed on Sept. 16. The Anchorage Department of Law presented a report to the Assembly on Friday showing that a $300,000 legal settlement was approved for Tuia between July and September.
An attorney for Tuia declined to comment on the settlement. The Anchorage Department of Law did not respond to several requests for information on the settlement.
In 2017, two other former officers received over $2 million from the city, after a jury found that the two were treated unfairly by the Anchorage Police Department because of their race.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the settlement has been approved for Tuia. It’s unclear if the settlement has been paid to Tuia.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
