"It was a huge deal back then," Eileen Wray said of the lawsuit. At the time, Wray was one of eight African-American officers in the department. The suit was settled out of court and led to new policies in the department, including those related to promotions for minority officers, according to news accounts of the time. The detective was one of five minority officers to launch a race-discrimination lawsuit against the Bellevue Police Department in 1988. Tonight, his family and friends will gather in the Wrays' Kenmore home to remember the police officer and musician described by loved ones as an eternal optimist who believed in treating everyone with respect and decency, no matter the circumstances. The scholarship will be named for Wray's husband, Bellevue police Detective Tom Wray, who was on duty when he had a fatal heart attack one year ago today. Eileen Wray will sign over a $2,000 check to Seattle University officials tonight, seed money for an endowment scholarship to benefit African Americans enrolled in the school's criminal-justice program.
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