Three shoppers are seeking more than $1 million in damages over allegations that they faced racist treatment at a Katy Buc-ee’s, according to a lawsuit elevated earlier this month to federal court in Houston.
In the suit, the three plaintiffs — Jonitress Jones, Vertina Jones and Jaylin McAllister — maintain they were paying for items at the travel stop on April 13, 2024, when an employee approached mid-purchase, accused them of stealing and asked them to leave.
The petition also accuses a manager of making racially derogatory comments during the interaction. The plaintiffs argue the alleged remarks, which they described as “extreme and outrageous,” caused emotional distress.
Buc-ee’s officials were unavailable Friday for immediate comment on the suit.
“The manager comes over, and they speak with the manager. They look around, and they realize that they’re the only folks that look like them. And they call out the elephant in the room, and they say, ‘Hey, you’re discriminating against us because we’re Black,’” Israel Garcia Perez III, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told MySA. “And the manager says, ‘Well, we can do that if we want to. That’s something we’re able to do.’”
The suit was originally filed in the 434th District Court in Texas Fort Bend County but was moved to federal court on Jan. 14.
Perez told MySA that he filed an injunction to preserve the in-store surveillance footage from the day of the alleged incident, though he worries it will be destroyed.
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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.
