Body worn camera footage released by the Gastonia Police Department shows the moment two officers arrest a homeless veteran and hit his service dog with a Taser.

This event occurred in October of 2021. The Gastonia Police Department refused to release the Body Worn Camera footage of the incident until the trial was well underway because they were afraid the video would skew the results of the trial, and for good reason. While we normally stray away from Monday morning quarter backing police use of force footage since we weren't there, this video shows gross negligence and a complete lack of soft skills by the officers involved that just about anyone with a pair of eyeballs can see, including on-lookers who tried to intervene on the veteran's behalf.

The homeless veteran in this incident is named Joshua Rohrer. The two officers involved are Officers Maurice Taylor and Cierra Brooks. Moments before the Taser is deployed, Officer Taylor can be heard saying the dog just bit him. Anyone who knows anything about the Belgian Malinois can tell you that when a Mal bites you, everyone around you knows it. The breed has 195 pounds of bite force on average, and the are not prone to taking a "nibble" out of people they view as a threat. Seconds later, the dog jumps up onto the police cruiser, which is a perfectly normal thing for a Belgian Malinois to do, and then it rubs up against the leg of its owner who is obviously in distress before being Tased by Taylor and running off.

Two days later the dog would be hit by a car and die while Rohrer was in country jail. Court documents show that officers didn’t attempt to track down the service animal following Rohrer’s arrest.

In court, Rohrer was charged with panhandling and resisting arrest. The charges were dismissed after a Rohrer pled guilty to an unrelated charge of ‘driving while license revoked’ on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. He has instead been sentenced to a probationary term of 24-months upon the condition that he participates in the a country Veterans’ Treatment Court. In exchange for his guilty plea and participation in the Veterans’ Treatment Court, the District Attorney’s Office has dismissed the charges stemming from Rohrer’s October 13, 2021, arrest.

Joshua Rohrer is a veteran of the Global War on Terror and the Army National Guard. He deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. His service dog was issued to him to help him deal with a large number of mental issues stemming from his deployment to Iraq. Rohrer said in an interview after receiving the footage that he wants Taylor and Brooks to be criminally charged for their treatment of him. He and his supporters intend to push for police reform in Gastonia.

"Once everybody sees what they did, and they can be held accountable, that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna make sure of that so something's done about it," he said. "It's just the beginning."