Rapid City Hotel Owner Arrested Following Altercation with Native American Protestors

The hotel owner who banned Native Americans from her property in South Dakota two months ago was arrested today for assaulting protesters at a demonstration organized by NDN Collective. 

Connie Uhre, 75, the owner of the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City, was charged with three counts of simple assault by the Rapid City Police Department for spraying what appeared to be a cleaning agent in the faces of several people outside the hotel. 

Uhre’s arrest was confirmed by Warren Poaches, a spokesperson for the Rapid City police. "More information on the crime will be available on Monday," Poaches told Native News Online.

The incident, which was recorded, occured during a protest at the hotel that was organized by NDN Collective. Both Uhre and the Grand Gateway have been under fire since March, when she made disparaging comments about Native American people and banned them from the hotel property after a shooting incident on the property that eventually left one dead.

Read more of the incident here.