A Bristol, Virginia police officer has filed a $200,0000 defamation lawsuit against a woman who was removed from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and posted videos about the ordeal.
Officer Lilly-Kay Tomlinson filed the lawsuit against Stephanie Bates in U.S. District Court on Dec. 3. The lawsuit seeks damages for Bates’s alleged defamation of Tomlinson in TikTok videos after an incident at the casino on Sept. 6.
On that day, Bates and her husband were staying at the hotel and casino and were sitting in a lounge. Tomlinson was working as a security detail at the casino that night, according to the lawsuit.
