A federal judge has allowed Denise Dixon to proceed with her $6 million lawsuit against Caesars Entertainment. Dixon sued Caesars last year in February after her 76-year-old fiancé from Wisconsin was fatally stabbed by a stranger at Harrah’s Joliet Hotel and Casino. Dixon is suing Caesars for negligence for the event that took place on March 23rd, 2019.
On the night of the fatal incident, an eyewitness recounted everything that took place. The witness claims that he had just entered the elevator to head onto the 5th floor of the hotel. A young man, who has since been identified as 25-year-old Robert Watson, asked the witness to hold the elevator.
The 2 climbed up to the 5th floor together where they both excited. The witness noticed, however, that Watson did not have a hotel key card for the elevator, which caused him to circle back to the lobby. When the witness made it to his room, he heard a scuffle in the hallway, which caused him to peek outside his room door where he saw Watson stabbing 76-year-old Emanuel “Sam” Burgarino.
Upon seeing the heinous act taking place, the witness claims that he shouted to get the young man off the elderly Burgarino. This caused Watson to sprint to the stairwell, which allowed him to access the exit. The police are said to have later apprehended Watson at the Joliet Public Library, situated not too far (just 2 blocks) from Harrah’s.
Watson was reportedly wearing the same items of clothing he had on during the stabbing. He was apprehended with a backpack that contained bloodied money, as well as an array of other items. During court hearings, Watson’s criminal history was brought forward and it consisted of a long series of crimes including aggravated battery, burglary, and robbery in different states such as Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, and Arizona.
Burgarino’s fiancé is suing Caesars because the gaming operator had a responsibility to protect all its guests against potential assailants such as Watson. According to surveillance footage of the hotel that day, Watson was seen suspiciously loitering and stalking patrons outside the Harrah’s property for hours without checking in or buying anything.
Harrah’s surveillance is said to have captured him doing it for hours and yet the hotel staff did nothing to question his behavior. After Dixon’s suit, Caesars also filed a motion to discharge the lawsuit against them. But this motion has since been denied by district judge Manish Shah.
Caesars claimed the stabber’s actions weren’t “sensibly predictable,” and therefore requested the judge to dismiss Dixon’s case. Judge Manish Shah, however, sided with Dixon as far as her negligence claims were concerned. Dixon also wanted to sue Caesars for the deliberate administration of emotional distress.
Dixon claims that she was ill-treated by Harrah’s staff as the employees did not inform her about her husband’s stabbing. She was also repeatedly stopped from accessing the crime scene after Burgarino’s death. Even after she was told that her future husband had been murdered, the hotel also charged her for her stay and kept sending her advertisements to return for another stay.
Dixon also claims that the staff did not bother to walk her to the car or help with her luggage as she exited the hotel. But Judge Shah discharged Dixon’s claim of emotional distress stating that none of the actions described above surpassed the bounds of decorum. Judge Shah agreed that the casino staff was indeed insensitive but they did not act in any extreme manner intended to inflict emotional distress on Dixon.
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More casino stabbings reported recently
A man was recently rushed in critical condition after he was stabbed outside Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. The man was rushed to the local hospital with severe stab wounds but his condition remained unknown. The police detained a suspect when the unnamed victim was rushed to the hospital.
However, it is not yet clear if the person apprehended has been charged or not. The Major Crimes unit has been investigating the incident since it took place on 9th September at around 8:30 pm. But this is not the first time that a violent crime has taken place in the vicinity of the casino.
At the beginning of the year in February, an elderly man driving home was pistol-whipped and robbed of his hard-earned casino winnings at the front of his home. The robbery took place in Aspinwall and was reported a little after 1:45 a.m. According to the police report, the elderly man arrived with injuries on his face and head.
After carrying out their investigations, the police discovered that a suspect had followed the elderly man to his home after observing him closely at the Rivers Casino, which is located on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. The victim had approximately $1,500 in his pocket that he had made that night from the casino’s BetRivers Sportsbook, which the victim got away with.
Eventually, the police would identify the suspect as a 28-year-old female known as Jaimeca Johnson and detain her at Forest Hill. Johnson was arrested and detained at the county jail where she awaits arraignment on various charges including robbery, aggravated assault, carrying a firearm without a license, and other theft-related offenses.
It was revealed that Rivers Casinos’ surveillance camera footage was crucial in helping the police solve the assault. Rivers boasts more than 1000 surveillance cameras monitoring the popular casino property in Illinois 24/7. Rivers Casino is controlled by well-known casino operator Rush Street Gaming.
Rush Street operates several casinos all over the state in New York, Pennsylvania, as well as Illinois. The operator is also scheduled to set up a new casino resort worth $300 million in Virginia by 2023. The new establishment, Rivers Casino Portsmouth, is set to launch with at least 7 restaurants and a massive casino floor.
Final Thoughts
The number of assaults and violent crimes surrounding punters has risen over the last few years. Case in point, this February, a man in Baltimore was also shot in his house after returning from Horseshoe Casino Baltimore. Last year in October, Jekai Reid-John was also accused of killing a pharmaceutical executive after they both left Parx Casino.
