BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- A Bakersfield fire captain won $700,000 in a lawsuit against the city after a jury found the city and its fire department guilty of race discrimination and retaliation.

Edgar Quincy Sloan is a fire captain with the Bakersfield Fire Department who has served the department for over 30 years, according to the lawsuit.

Nancy Doumanian, the attorney representing Sloan in the lawsuit, said at the Bakersfield City Council meeting on Wednesday that Sloan was the first Black firefighter in the department’s history to reach the No. 1 position on the eligibility list to be promoted to battalion chief.

“And for the first time ever in this department’s history, the department skipped over the number one candidate and promoted others ranked below him,” Doumanian said at

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