“As a Kentucky National Guard intelligence soldier, Rohrer deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005, facing what he called constant attacks in Saddam Hussien’s hometown.
After leaving the Guard, Rohrer was diagnosed with PTSD and other disorders and received a service dog as part of his treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He named the dog Sunshine.
In October 2021, a run-in with police in Gastonia, NC ended in Rohrer under arrest and Sunshine dead. Sunshine was hit by a car hours after fleeing the scene when an officer used a taser on the service dog.
Now Rohrer has filed a federal lawsuit against the police officers involved in the arrest and the Gastonia Police Department, alleging excessive force, intentional infliction of emotional distress, retaliation, and defamation.
Roher maintains that his arrest was unjustified and overly violent.
The suit also chronicles more than two dozen Facebook posts made in the months since by officers inside the department — along with the judge who oversaw the case — that Rohrer says add up to a campaign of harassment against him.
“During the arrest — and despite knowing of Mr. Rohrer’s disabilities — the officers unnecessarily escalated the situation, forcing Mr. Rohrer against their car and then to the ground and tasing the unthreatening Sunshine, who ran off and was later killed by a car,” the suit alleges. “Mr. Rohrer was devastated by the death of his beloved companion Sunshine and attempted to take his own life. He continues to suffer from the injuries the officers inflicted on him.”
A spokesperson for the Gastonia police department told Task & Purpose they could not comment on a pending lawsuit.
“The City is aware of the lawsuit,” said Mary J. Elliot, Gastonia’s director of Communications and Marketing. “We are reviewing the details of the filing. It is not City policy to comment on pending litigation.”
The city, Elliot said, had not been served with the lawsuit on Thursday, June 6.
After fleeing the scene of the arrest — witnesses described the taser tongs still stuck in the dog as it ran — Sunshine was found and taken in by a friend of Rohrer. But while Rohrer was still in jail the next day, Sunshine escaped the friend’s property and was struck and killed by a car.”
Read the rest, Vet whose service dog died after violent arrest sues police
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