A Black Army officer says she was profiled when she was denied entry to a Louisiana casino after an employee discredited her military ID

• A Black Army officer is pursuing legal action after a Louisiana casino employee denied her entry.

• Deja Harrison said the Harrah's New Orleans guard claimed she wasn't the person on her military ID.

• A viral video showed Harrison's interaction with the security guard on October 5.

For Deja Harrison, a visit to a Louisiana casino earlier this month escalated when an employee denied her entry, saying she was not the person on her military ID. Now the 23-year-old US Army second lieutenant is pursuing legal action, NewsNation Now reported.

On October 5, Harrison and her stepbrother went to Harrah's New Orleans to celebrate his birthday. When the electronic scanner at the casino failed to read her state driver's license, she showed the guard her military ID, Harrison told Insider on Wednesday.

"He immediately looked at my rank, and he was like, 'This ID is fake. This isn't you, and there's no way possible that you made this rank in a short period of time,'" she said.

Harrison, a recent graduate of Grambling State University, said the employee's remarks were hard to hear, especially after her efforts during the summer.

"I just commissioned the summer. I just came from a 38-day training, sleepless nights, 16-hour days, walking 12 miles a day with heavy equipment on, and I was just like, wow, this man is telling me I didn't do this," she said. "I've worked so hard to be in the military and to be where I am now."

Harrison posted a video of the encounter on Twitter

In addition to both IDs, Harrison showed the guard a military pay stub and her vaccination card, she said. She started to record the confrontation and posted the video on Twitter.

"You said I had a fake military ID, right?" Harrison said in the video.

"I'm not saying that the ID is fake. I'm saying that I don't think that it's you," the security guard responded.

"This is my face. I'm an E-6. Actually, I'm a second lieutenant now," Harrison said while showing the employee her two valid IDs.

At the end of the video, the employee said he was calling the New Orleans Police Department. WDSU reported that it reviewed the local 911 database and that it did not appear the casino called the police during that time.

Harrison told Insider she was humiliated and scared as she waited hours for the police to arrive.

"Honestly, because of this, I haven't been getting sleep," she said.

Harrah's New Orleans issued a statement on October 7

Harrah's New Orleans did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but it addressed the incident in a public statement last week.

It said its employees check the IDs of guests "who appear to be under 30 years old."

"Our Team Members are trained to evaluate identification in accordance with local regulations. In this case, Ms. Harrison, who appeared to be under 30, presented a Louisiana driver's license that did not clear our electronic verification system," the statement said.

The statement continued: "When asked for an alternative form of identification, she presented a military ID card, but the information on the ID card did not match the information she verbally communicated to our security officers. As a result, in compliance with applicable gaming regulations, our security officers did not permit Ms. Harrison to enter the casino."

James DeSimone, an attorney representing Harrison, told Insider that they were filing "a civil-rights case on behalf of Lieutenant Harrison" and that they "seek to get justice through the courts."

"We believe in our jury system. We think that a jury who hears this will be similarly outraged at how Harrison was treated when she arrived at Harrah's, how she had the wait two hours in fear that this was not going to end well when the police showed up," DeSimone said. "We will get accountability for Lieutenant Harrison through our system of justice."

Read the original article on Insider