A Washington jury awarded $24.2 million to the former Port of Seattle police chief, who was fired three years ago and sued the port, alleging his termination was related to his being “an older white man.”
A King County jury last week awarded the money to Rodney Covey, who was fired in September 2021. He had been placed on administrative leave by the port in 2020 after a complaint filed by an officer, who was not identified in the suit.
The suit, filed in King County Superior Court in December 2022, claims Covey’s termination “was the intended result of a campaign to remove him as chief because he, as an older white man, did not fit the profile the port wanted to portray to the public.”
A port spokesperson told FreightWaves the port was considering an appeal.
“The Port continues to stand by its decision to terminate former Police Department Chief Rod Covey based on violations of the Port’s Code of Conduct,” the spokesperson said by email. “The Port will continue to enforce its Code of Conduct and will take appropriate action when someone is found to have violated these policies.”
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Covey’s lengthy law enforcement career began in 1976, and he joined the port’s police department in 2009.
He reprimanded a “problem officer” in 2018 after the officer filed an internal complaint against his supervising sergeant claiming she had retaliated against him for using sick leave. The reprimand was related to “performance shortcomings,” including failing to complete reports, failing to open case reports after speaking with theft victims and taking five days to report a stolen gun, the suit says.
The officer later filed a complaint, prompting an investigation into Covey, although the suit says the police chief did not know he was a subject of the investigation until seven months in and was under the impression it only focused on the officer’s sergeant.
Citing new allegations against Covey, the port placed the police chief on administrative leave a month after the murder of George Floyd. Floyd’s death inflamed racial tensions around the nation. The investigation took 14 months to complete.
The port launched another investigation into Covey after two port employees complained that the police chief had retaliated against them in their roles in the 2019 investigation into the officer’s first retaliation claim. The investigator found the complaint to be unsubstantiated, according to the suit. Still, the port terminated Covey for allegedly violating its code of conduct and HR policies.
“The port jumped on the opportunity to rid itself of a chief who did not fit the ‘diverse’ profile the port desired in the new political landscape,” the lawsuit says.