Applebee’s Closes Independence Restaurant in Racial Profiling Incident

Applebee's has closed a Kansas City-area restaurant where two black women said they were falsely accused of not paying for meals in an earlier visit.

The Kansas City Star reports that it's unclear whether if the closure was directly related to the racial profiling incident because the Independence Center Mall where it's located is scheduled for a foreclosure sale Friday.

Applebee's announced earlier this week that it fired three employees and temporarily closed the restaurant after the two women posted a video showing an employee, a police officer and a mall security guard confronting them for "dining and dashing" during a previous visit, which the women denied.

Applebee's spokeswoman Melissa Hart said Thursday the restaurant would be permanently closed.

Independence police also said they investigated the officer's conduct during the incident but wouldn't comment on the review's findings.