The US Army officer who was denied entry to a New Orleans casino last month is suing the casino and the employee who claimed her military ID was fake. When 2nd Lt. Deja Harrison, 23, tried to enter Harrah’s New Orleans Casino for her brother’s 21st birthday last month, her Louisiana driver’s license would not scan through the building’s electronic readers. Harrison claims that when she produced her military ID, a security officer, identified in court documents as Corey DOE, told her the ID was fake.
A lawsuit filed in Orleans Parish district court claims that a security guard told Harrison, ‘This isn’t you’ and that ‘you couldn’t have made E6 that fast,’ referring to Harrison’s former rank of staff sergeant on her ID. Harrison had just been commissioned as an officer. After hearing that she wouldn’t be able to enter the casino, Harrison was in disbelief. ‘I provided so much to Harrah’s: my paystub, my license, my military ID and my vaccination card,’ Harrison said.
Harrison started recording the encounter when the guard refused to scan her military ID. The security guard said, ‘I’m not saying that the ID is fake. I’m saying that I don’t think that it’s you’. ‘He just jumped to his own stereotypes that a Black woman like Deja couldn’t rise to her rank that quickly,’ said James DeSimone, an attorney for Harrison. The security guard then threatened to call the police, according to DeSimone. ‘Deja started video taping as to document what was happening and this older white male got ‘butthurt’ because she was videotaping’,DeSimone added.
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In the lawsuit, Harrison is seeking damages from Harrah’s for violating her human rights under Louisiana law, as well as a change to Harrah’s policies about scanning guests’ IDs as they enter the casino. The lawsuit also seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
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