Drill team claims racial discrimination

New Haven (WTNH) - Were members of a New Haven drill team evicted from a hotel in Missouri because of their race? That is what the team's manager claims happened earlier this week.

The National Drill Squad and Drum Corps was in Kansas City earlier this week for a national competition. But the team leader says his group was scared and felt intimidated when the hotel they were staying in ordered them to leave at 1:30 a.m.

The hotel strongly denies that charge, saying it was the group's behavior that led to the them being ordered off the premises.

Douglas Bethea described how several police officers carrying Tasers banged on their hotel rooms and ordered all 48 people in the group to leave the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex early Wednesday morning.

The team, which features 32 kids ages 4 to 18, had checked in on Sunday and Bethea described the eviction as the breaking point of three days of discriminatory treatment at the hotel. The group alleges that hotel staff referred to members of the all black group with racial innuendos.

But the hotel says it received more than a dozen noise complaints from other guests. Kansas City police tell News Channel 8 that they also received complaints from hotel guests over the three day period. The Sheraton's manager says the drill team was warned multiple times to quiet down or the hotel would have no choice but to have them removed.

Bethea says it was only one time that a hotel employee told them to quiet down and he maintains they were kicked out because of their color.

"They referred to us as 'you people' and 'we don't deal with people like you,' so I mean you explain to me 'you people,' what does that mean?" Bethea questioned. "We don't deal with 'you loud people,' they didn't say they, we don't deal with 'you people.' To me, yes, that's a racial comment. If it wasn't about race, how do you put 48 people out of a hotel, give them 15 minutes or say you will be removed by force."

The hotel's manager told News Channel 8 "absolutely no one was mistreated because of race and that we do not discriminate against anyone at this hotel."

He went on to say "it's an unfortunate situation, but it's the hotel's responsibility to maintain a quiet and restful environment for all our guests."

Bethea admits his team has been loud in the past, going so far as to say that that the team should have been kicked out of other hotels. But he says this trip didn't even come close to that kind of problem.

For its part, The Sheraton hotel refunded the drill team for 2 nights of their stay.

Bethea is also speaking with local members of the NAACP in New Haven who are talking with their counterparts in Kansas City about a possible lawsuit against the Sheraton and its parent company.

For Betha, he says pursuing legal action is not about money but respect.