A former Andalusia police officer has dropped a federal lawsuit he filed against the Andalusia Police Department.

Alvah Carlson first filed an reverse racial discrimination suit with the EEOC, and later made the same charges against the APD, the City of Andalusia, and Assistant Police Chief Mike Bowlan in a federal lawsuit. He also claimed that as an employee, he was in a hostile work environment.

Those charges have all been dropped, the APD said Tuesday. There was no out-of-court settlement, Chief Wilbur Williams said.

“It was a relief to have the suit dropped by the plaintiff, rather than having a settlement in which the plaintiff could have realized some monetary reward,” WIlliams said. “As it stands with the suit being dropped, the plaintiff and his lawyers did not receive one red cent from the city or the city’s insurance company.

“We stood behind Chief Bowlan and knew from the beginning that this was a frivolous lawsuit filed by a former officer that was terminated because of his inability to conform to the professional high standards required of officers working for the Andalusia Police Department,”

Williams said. “This is yet another example of the police department holding its officers to the highest level of performance in all areas of their job and most especially the manner in which they conduct themselves while operating motor vehicles and patrol cars.”