RAPID CITY, S.D. — Rapid City Police say they were called to the Grand Gateway Hotel Friday afternoon following a conflict being reported with protestors there.
A video that was making the rounds on social media showed the hotel’s owner, Connie Uhre, confronting the protestors and spraying several of them with some sort of chemical, believed to be a cleaning substance.
The hotel has seen protests on a continuing basis after Uhre posted a controversial message on social media earlier this spring that state Native Americans were no longer welcome at the hotel after a shooting that happened there claimed the life of a man.
Rapid City Police Community Relations Specialist Brendyn Medina told area media that Uhre was arrested on three counts of simple assault.
NDN Collective’s Racial Equity Director, Sunny Red Bear, posted on her Facebook that she had been sprayed by Uhre. She wrote the following:
“This is what we mean when we say that white supremacy is violent. Now that we’ve seen that she was willing to commit a physical act of violence – in public and in broad daylight – I hope that people will begin to understand and believe us when we say how dangerous and REAL racism is.”
Medina says the investigation into the incident is ongoing, and that RCPD is working with the City Attorney’s Office to determine whether or not NDN Collective was in the parking lot legally.
Medina says two businesses control the parking lot and that one had given them permission to be there, while the other had not.
