International Courant
HONOLULU– A county in Hawaii has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing its police chief of discriminating in opposition to a captain as a result of he was Japanese-American, together with one occasion by which the chief narrowed his eyes, bowed repeatedly and stated he couldn’t belief the Japanese.
Within the 2021 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court docket in Honolulu in opposition to Kauai police and the county, Paul Applegate, who is a component Japanese, alleged that Chief Todd Raybuck mocked Asians a number of occasions.
Below Kauai County’s settlement phrases, Applegate will obtain roughly $45,000 in again wages, roughly $181,000 typically damages and roughly $124,000 in authorized charges. Now performing assistant chief of the Investigative Providers Bureau, Applegate, who’s in his 50s, additionally agreed to retire from the division.
Below the settlement, there isn’t a act of contrition or legal responsibility.
Applegate’s legal professional didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail from The Related Press looking for remark.
Raybuck’s legal professional, Jeffrey Portnoy, stated the chief opposed the settlement.
“He wished this case to go to trial to show the claims have been baseless,” Portnoy stated. “We refused to conform to the settlement and subsequently the chief was dismissed (from the case) earlier than the settlement was consummated.”
Raybuck grew to become Kauai’s police chief in 2019 after retiring as a Las Vegas police officer for 27 years.
In keeping with the lawsuit, the Kauai Police Division introduced internally {that a} white officer had been chosen as assistant chief of the Administrative and Technical Bureau, despite the fact that no formal choice course of had taken place. When Applegate did apply for the job, Raybuck interviewed him one-on-one, despite the fact that division follow required two folks to conduct such interviews.
When Applegate met with Raybuck afterward to debate the choice course of, standards and scoring, the lawsuit stated, the chef mocked the Japanese’s look.
“Chief Raybuck proceeded to slender his eyes and bow repeatedly to the plaintiff, stating that he couldn’t belief the Japanese folks as a result of they don’t at all times inform the reality,” the lawsuit stated. “He then said that Western tradition ‘tells it like it’s,’ whereas Japanese tradition says ‘sure, sure, sure’ to your face, even when they assume the individual’s concept is silly.”
An impartial fee discovered the hiring course of was correct and the chief denies any discriminatory habits, Portnoy stated.
Hawaii police officer who claimed chief was racially discriminatory settles for $350,000 and agrees to retire
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