The Justice Department filed a civil discrimination lawsuit Wednesday against the owners and operators of a South Dakota hotel and casino that banned all Native Americans last spring in response to a fatal shooting on the property.
Federal prosecutors said the proprietors of the Grand Gateway Hotel and the Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino in Rapid City, S.D., discriminated against prospective patrons when they issued the new policy in late March and turned away at least two Native Americans who attempted to book hotel rooms over the next two days.
Hotel director Connie Uhre said in a Facebook post on March 20 that she took the action after a guest was fatally shot by another guest in one of the rooms a night earlier.
