‘She was just doing her job’: Homeless vet loses service dog during arrest for panhandling
(www.armytimes.com)https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/10/27/i-just-wanted-to-die-homeless-veteran-loses-service-dog-during-arrest-for-panhandling/ Joshua Graham Rohrer, a homeless veteran in North Carolina, says he was wrongfully arrested and mistreated by Gastonia police officers, who also tased his service dog Sunshine, sparking support from those who witnessed the incident.
The Gastonia Police Department told Military Times that although Rohrer will go to court for the charges against him, the department is now looking into the incident to “determine if the conduct of our officers was appropriate.”
Rohrer was standing on a median near a Gastonia shopping center with Sunshine on Oct. 13 when a 911 caller contacted police. While Rohrer wasn’t bothering anybody, having Sunshine with him was his way of using sympathy to get money from people, the caller said, according to a copy of the audio call.
Even though Rohrer wasn’t armed or harassing passersby, according to witnesses at the scene, the encounter would ultimately end with his arrest and Sunshine’s death.
