A Suffolk County jury found on Monday that Massachusetts State Police systematically discriminated against female and minority troopers through its internal promotion practices, ordering the department to pay more than $6.8 million in damages.
The verdict came in a lawsuit that had originally been filed in 2016, which claimed the agency chose to not promote troopers who were women and of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The suit was filed by five former and current state troopers, including people who were women, Black or Hispanic, who claimed they were not awarded positions in specialized units due to racial and gender bias…