A Colorado man is suing a hotel chain after he wasn’t allowed to report an incident involving a front desk clerk who allegedly called him a racist slur multiple times and then called the police after he tried to use the restroom in a hotel lobby.
The Denver Post reported that Freddie Davis filed a federal civil rights complaint against Wyndham Hotel and Resorts alleging he suffered discrimination and mistreatment from hotel staff members at the Baymont by Wyndham Thornton in Thornton, Colorado, two years ago.
Davis stated that around 3 a.m. on Feb. 25, 2023, he was charging his Tesla at a gas station across the street from the hotel. In need of a bathroom, he went to the hotel because the gas station was closed.
Davis was listening to music on his headphones when he walked into the hotel lobby and headed to the bathroom, but the bathroom was closed for cleaning, according to the suit.
When he turned to leave, he spotted the front desk clerk yelling at him. The clerk, who is white, reportedly called Davis, a Black man, a racial slur used against Black people several times and told him he was not listening to her.
When Davis left the hotel and returned to his car, several police vehicles arrived at his location. According to the complaint, the clerk called local police and claimed Davis was being “aggressive.”
Davis spoke to the officers, and police ended up citing the clerk for disorderly conduct after she admitted to using the slur.
After the incident, Davis tried filing a complaint with the hotel chain.
A corporate representative told him to return to the hotel and get a paper form to report what happened. However, when he went back to the hotel, a supervisor refused to give him a form, and then called police and reported Davis for trespassing, the suit states.
Officers arrived and walked Davis out of the lobby.
According to the Post, the lawsuit alleges the company never addressed the racist incidents and alleges the hotel did not sufficiently train its employees.
