What are you doing? >> Mama. >> What are you doing? >> Call your dog off. Call your dog off. Call your dog off. Call your Call your dog off. >> Where's my dog, man? Where's my dog? >> This is the latest update in the federal civil rights lawsuit filed by disabled US military veteran Joshua Rohrer against the city of Gastonia and its police [music] officers. Rohrer is a disabled Army veteran who suffers from service connected post-traumatic stress disorder. His 2-year-old Belgian Malinois named [music] Sunshine was prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of his medical treatment, according to Army Times. On October 13th, 2021, officers responded to a 911 call reporting alleged panhandling. Rohrer disputed that claim, but was asked to identify himself. He later provided his veteran identification card. Officers did not accept [music] it. He was arrested. During the encounter, officers deployed a Taser against Sunshine. The dog [music] fled from the scene and was later struck and killed by a vehicle. On July 6th, 2022, prosecutors dismissed the charges. [music] Now, in July 2025, a federal judge has ruled that Rohrer's civil rights lawsuit can move forward. >> [music] >> Hey, how's it going? >> I'm doing all right, sir. >> Well, just out with him. I told him he couldn't be on the median. >> Yeah, that's why I was packing my stuff up. >> He walked out to a car to get money. How do >> Yeah, I saw him at the Circle K the other day with the car. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, >> he's refusing to give me his ID because I'm going to write him >> She's She's trying to write me a ticket because I was walking up there packing up. She told me to pack up. >> you I was going to >> Look look listen. >> Listen. >> stopped and >> Listen. Listen. >> You saw it yesterday. He saw it, too. People give me money without me asking. I don't have to >> Because because you're first of all, I mean it it can be inferred, okay? Because that's the way the law works. Things can be inferred. So, if it appears that you're violating the ordinance, that's how that works. >> Right, but if >> So, if you're so so so let me tell you cuz cuz you're not a lawyer. You can get one, but I can tell you how the law works. You're in a median, right? You're waving at people in the median after after I've told you >> down like this. I sit there and observe you. And that lady is a witness down there. >> Yeah, and I walked up here >> Listen. Listen. Listen. I just want you to know you can go to jail for this ordinance. >> Federal courts across the country, including recent appellate rulings, have struck down panhandling bans when they restrict protected speech under the First Amendment. Panhandling, including asking for or accepting donations, may be considered protected speech under the United States Constitution. Whether Gastonia's ordinance and the actions taken during this encounter violated those constitutional protections is now being examined in federal court. >> If you continue If you continue to argue with officers, you're going to go to jail. And you're And we're going And And we are And we are And we are going to call animal control for your dog. You got it? >> That's that >> Okay. So so no. You cannot You cannot be You cannot You cannot be here. >> That's fine. I told her I was leaving. >> interpret it as you asking for money because >> Yeah, that is that >> you walked out to the floor. >> Dude, you saw it. I was standing here talking to her yesterday. >> You don't give me your You wouldn't get out and call animal control for your dog. For what? You're wasting >> Can we get your ID? Can we get your ID? >> Dude, I didn't commit this crime. >> But you're also in the median after I've told you not to be here before. Have Have I not said that? >> And that's why I was vacating because she asked me to leave. And I was literally walking up here. I didn't ask anybody for money. >> Okay. >> That's right. I'm taking this to trial. >> You can't. >> That's fine. You can. >> It's It's to go to trial anyway. You don't even have to ask. >> Oh, it's going to trial. You're wasting taxpayer dollars. >> Okay. >> Well, >> I pay my taxes, too. >> There you go. No, we Your state ID, not your VA ID. >> a valid It's not valid. >> I need your state ID, not your VA ID. I'm going to ask you one more time for your >> even valid. >> Give me your state ID. >> It is important to understand that North Carolina law does not require pedestrians to carry or produce identification during a police encounter. Officers may detain or arrest someone if they have probable cause of a violation. However, there is no law requiring a person on foot to carry a state-issued identification card or prohibiting the use of a federally issued veteran identification card. The central legal question is whether Joshua Rohrer's arrest was lawful under the United States Constitution. >> Hey, uh turn around. You're being arrested. >> I Whoa, what for, dude? >> Turn around. >> Are you kidding me? >> Turn around. >> You want to see this? >> Turn around. >> Somebody help me! >> Turn around. >> Hey! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? >> SIR, >> MAMA! >> HEY! >> WHAT ARE YOU DOING? >> CALL your dog off. Call your dog off. Call your dog off. Call your dog off. >> Whoa, mama! >> Call your dog off. Sir, call your dog off. Call your dog off. He just bit me. He bit me. Call your dog off. Two Charlie Call your dog off. CALL YOUR DOG OFF. CALL YOUR DOG OFF. CALL YOUR DOG OFF. WE NEED WE NEED TWO CHARLIE 10-7, WE NEED MORE UNITS. >> As the encounter escalated, officers deployed a Taser against Rohrer's service dog. The dog fled from the scene and was later struck and killed by a vehicle. Under United States Supreme Court precedent, any use of force by police must be objectively reasonable based on the totality of the circumstances. This includes the severity of the suspected offense, whether there was an immediate threat to officer safety, and whether the individual was actively resisting or attempting to evade detention. This constitutional standard comes from the United States Supreme Court case Graham versus Connor. Whether the force used during this encounter met that constitutional standard is now part of the federal civil rights lawsuit moving forward in court. >> 4 UNIT >> HELP ME! >> STOP! >> WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? SOMEBODY HELP ME RECORD! >> TURN AROUND. >> RECORD THIS! >> TURN AROUND. >> SORRY. >> HELP ME! >> [screaming] >> TURN SORRY, TURN AROUND. >> HELP! >> TURN AROUND. >> WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? >> 2 Charlie 10 3 tased the photo of the dog. >> Why are you doing this, sir? >> the Charlie 10 was bit by the dog. The dog It bit my foot and I knew it was going to bite you, sir. >> Charlie Charlie 10 was bit by the dog. >> 10-4, it didn't break my foot, but it bit my boot. >> Help me! What are you doing? >> I'm not going to ask. Relax and give me your hand. >> Why are you doing this? I haven't done anything. >> I told you to >> cooperate. >> Sir. His dog bit him. >> Help me record! >> His dog bit me. I get you, but when when we are out here trying to get something from him and it won't happen, I have to do what I have to do. The dog bit me, okay? >> YEAH, CUZ YOU SHOT HIM WITH A TASER. PLEASE HELP ME. Why are y'all doing this to me? >> What were they asking you for? >> They asked ME FOR MY ID AND THEN HE GRABBED ME AND TACKLED ME. >> CUZ YOU WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO HIM. >> I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF HANDING it to you. >> Guys, guys, please help me nicely because this guy has been in my hair for months. This dog has never done >> Okay, okay, we're doing what we have to do. >> my dog. >> What is the taser FOR? >> THEY TASED IT. PLEASE RECORD THIS. >> We got what we got to do. Return to 10. Please record this. Why are y'all doing this to me? I get it, but it doesn't change the fact that the dog bit me. Okay? Can y'all just back up, please? Dude, he tased my dog. OF COURSE HE LIKE, SERIOUSLY, why are y'all doing this to me? Okay, but we have to do our job. We have to do our job. Dude, you didn't either. Well, you didn't I didn't You did not You did not see the whole story. Please help me. Somebody record this. Thank you. I need your information. Somebody please help me. They're trying to kidnap me. Did Did he see the dog bite? I don't know what they're doing, Sunshine. Where is my dog? Sunshine Ray. I need my dog. She's my medical device. Where is my dog? Where is my dog? Where is my dog? Where is my dog? Where is my dog? What are y'all doing with my dog? Where is my dog? Give me a second. I get but but when we're when we're trying to detain the owner, of course the dog's going to And I asked him to call his dog off. The dog got on the dog got on the hood of the car and the dog began barking. The dog The dog initially barked and bit my boot but it didn't break my boot. I don't I didn't want I did not want this dog to bite my partner, you understand? Okay, we asked for his ID. He refused us to give us his ID. >> Ma'am, I need your assistance. I need your help. >> I'm not sure if she's mad because he's here all the time and they don't like they don't like the fact that we had to do what we had to do. >> Following his arrest and the dismissal of criminal charges, Joshua Roarer filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging violations of his constitutional rights. His lawsuit alleges violations of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful detention, unlawful arrest, and excessive force. He also alleges violations of the First Amendment, arguing that panhandling or accepting donations may constitute protected speech under the United States Constitution. In addition, his lawsuit seeks to hold the city of Gastonia responsible under federal civil rights law, alleges that the actions taken against him were the result of official policy, custom, practice, or failure to properly train its officers. >> Please help me. >> I'll chase good. Yeah, yeah, it didn't break. But everybody's out Well, everybody's out here. His dog initially bit me. It didn't BREAK MY BOOT BUT IT GOT on the thing and I AND THE DOG AND I TOLD HER TO I DIDN'T shoot her. I chased her. >> Yes, he did. He chased her for no reason. >> My camera's still on. So, he was out here we've we told him I'm just going to give you a background on the whole story. We told I came out here last week. All right? He was in the median. I told him to remove from the median because he is begging for money. He says, "I'm just waving. I'm not doing anything." I was like, "Okay, well, you at least you have to get off the median, okay? You can't be in the median." He's like Basically, he's like, "Well, I I can be on the sidewalk." He went over to the sidewalk. I let that be, okay? Today, Brooks was out here with him. She watched him. She saw him take money from people, getting money from people. You can articulate that as soliciting money because he's standing in the median after I told him last week not to do the same thing. >> Okay. >> Uh I guess he refused to give Brooks's ID. He refused to give Brooks's ID. So, he gave us his VA ID and I said, "No, not your VA ID. I need your your license, okay?" I understand a VA ID doesn't have certain information on it. I'm also I'm also I'm also a veteran myself. I get it. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Okay? So, um He He's He starts getting angry and what not. He's like, "This one is not valid. This one is not valid. Take my VA ID." I was like, "No, sir. I need your state ID that you have." And I go and He starts hollering and keeps like shoving in my face saying, "This is not valid." And I try to get it from him. He doesn't give it to me, >> North Carolina ID? >> His North Carolina ID because we're trying to identify him. So, I go to put him in handcuffs. He starts resisting saying, "Help! Help!" screaming, "Help!" His dog starts looking worried and what not. He runs over He runs over to my foot and he knits it like he like he knits at my foot. It doesn't knit, but he actually bites my boot, but it doesn't break my boot. At that point, I'm telling him to call off his dog. >> Okay. I see where I can hear. >> Yeah. At that point, yeah. That's exactly where it was. I told him to call off his dog. The dog jumps up on the hood and I'm thinking it's going to bite Brooks at this point as we're doing this because the dog is obviously worried. It's trying It's going to try to protect its owner. It already bit me. So, at this point, once the dog looked like it was about to get close to Brooks, I tased it. Because that was the logical thing to do. So, my partner It ran away. That's a logical thing to do. Instead of shooting the dog, you You get what I'm saying? And so, I can protect my partner cuz I'm not about to let my partner get bit by a a a German Shepherd. How big is the dog? Uh it's about this big. And it's a very well-trained dog. I asked him multiple times to call his dog off. I was like, "Sir, call your dog off. Call your dog off." Yeah, after it bit me. I said, "Call your dog off. Call your dog off." I did not want it to bite Brooks. Cuz we cuz we were actively Yeah, came up. And it This can all be seen on camera. And that's the ID he tried to give us and I told him I was like, "Hey, can I get your state ID?" And he kept He He was just being very argumentative, like very church. Say it again. I told I told him a few days ago. And it's on camera. I can find it. It was on the other shift, I believe. I've told him before to get off the medium. They didn't They didn't see anything. All they saw was the aftermath for me tasing the dog and then everybody Yeah, I I did not want the dog to bite my partner while we're trying to detain the man. And we don't know what he has on him. That's That's That's that. >> Yeah. And you seen the dog go which way? It ran down this way somewhere. Let me get his info and then >> Yeah, I mean >> All right. >> But I'll download my body cam. I'm I'm good, but uh >> You need anything? >> No, it's but we good. >> I'll talk to I'll talk to you later. We're good. >> On June 30th, 2023, [music] Joshua Rohrer filed his federal civil rights lawsuit in the United [music] States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Nearly 2 years later, on July 28th, [music] 2025, the federal court issued a major ruling. The court denied [music] the defendants' motion to dismiss the core constitutional claims. The judge also [music] ruled that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity at this stage of the proceedings. [music] Qualified immunity normally protects officers from lawsuits unless their conduct violated clearly established constitutional rights. >> [music] >> The court further ruled that Rohrer's claims against the city of Gastonia could proceed under the Monell [music] doctrine, a legal standard that allows a city to be held liable if a constitutional violation resulted from [music] official policy, custom, or failure to properly train its officers. This allows the lawsuit to proceed against both the individual officers and the city of Gastonia. >> [music] >> Simply put, the federal court has ruled that Joshua Rohrer's constitutional claims are legally sufficient to move forward. The final outcome will now be determined [music] through the federal judicial process. As a veteran and former law enforcement cases like this carry [music] deep personal significance. According to WBTV News, Rohrer later received a new service dog to assist [music] in his recovery. The dog's name is Justice Ray. Cases like this highlight the lasting impact these encounters can have [music] on everyone involved. Before we wrap up, I would like to take a moment to say thank you. My name is Leo. I am a veteran and a former police [music] officer. I truly appreciate you spending your time here and supporting my family through this channel. Your viewership and engagement genuinely [music] mean a great deal to us. Please stay safe and God bless.