Court filing asks Gastonia Police to release video, offers new details on veteran's arrest

A veteran who says he was mistreated by police asks in a new court filing that a judge force the Gastonia Police Department to release the body camera footage that shows his encounter with police in October.

Joshua Rohrer, 38, who served in the Army National Guard and spent time in Iraq, was arrested Oct. 13 and accused of resisting arrest and begging for money near the Gastonia Target store.

In court documents filed in Gaston County Superior Court on Friday, Rohrer's attorney, Andrew LaBreche of Woodridge Law in Rutherfordton, said that Rohrer was harassed for several months by Gastonia police before the encounter that culminated in his arrest and incarceration in the Gaston County Jail.

LaBreche said in the filing that on Oct. 9, 2021, Officer Maurice Taylor III encountered Rohrer, who was homeless, on a sidewalk and accused him of panhandling. He then switched tactics and demanded Rohrer "pack up" and "leave town," the filing said.

While Taylor was standing there, a woman approached Rohrer and gave him $10, and Taylor tried to arrest Rohrer, the filing said.

The woman who gave Rohrer the money demanded that Taylor stop and said that Rohrer had not asked her for anything, the filing said.

Taylor then told Rohrer, "'If I see you again, I'm going to arrest you,'" LaBreche wrote, quoting Taylor.

LaBreche added that Rohrer tried to deescalate the situation by talking about Gastonia police officers who had been kind to him and Sunshine, and Taylor then demanded the names of those officers and said he intended to report them for violations of department policy.

Taylor also questioned whether Rohrer was really a disabled veteran, adding that Taylor, as well as his uncle, are disabled veterans and they still work, LaBreche wrote.

Four days later, on Oct. 13, someone called 911 and reported people standing near a shopping center with a dog and "using the dog to get money."

Officer Cierra Brooks responded.

Lawyer describes police video

LaBreche goes on to describe what he says the body camera footage shows:

Brooks approached Rohrer and said that a caller had claimed he was panhandling, then claimed she'd just witnessed him soliciting money from a bystander. She demanded to see his ID.

Rohrer denied the allegations, and instead said a woman flagged him down and offered him money.

Brooks then radioed for backup and Taylor arrived in seconds. Brooks initially repeated her claim that she saw Rohrer panhandle, then instead said that she inferred it because she saw him walk up to a car.

Taylor then told Rohrer he could go to jail if he kept arguing with them, but the body camera footage, according to LaBreche, shows that Rohrer was not arguing.

Brooks went on to tell Rohrer that he was "going to jail, and we're going to call animal control on your dog," the filing states, while Taylor began talking about what happened on Oct. 9 and claimed he had told Rohrer not to stand idly on public property during their interactions several days earlier.

At that point, the filing states, Taylor asked for Rohrer's identification, and Rohrer offered him his military ID.

Taylor refused that ID and demanded to see a state ID, which Rohrer did not have.

What followed is the heart of Rohrer's allegations — Taylor, according to the filing, grabbed Rohrer's arm without warning and slammed him against the hood of a police car, and Rohrer yelled for help. Sunshine began licking his face, something she was trained to do to help him manage his panic attacks, and Taylor removed his taser and yelled at Rohrer, saying, "Call your dog off!"

Rohrer ordered Sunshine to get down and pleaded with Taylor to stop, and Taylor, who had moved approximately 6 feet away from Rohrer, Brooks and Sunshine, yelled that Sunshine had just bitten him and fired his taser into Sunshine's backside.

Taylor's body camera provided an unobstructed view that showed Brooks looking at Sunshine, which left no question that Brooks knew that Sunshine did not bite Taylor, the filing stated.

As Taylor fired his taser, Brooks slammed Rohrer face first into the ground, and Rohrer, thinking that the officers were firing bullets at Sunshine, tried to throw himself between what he believed was Taylor's gun and his service dog, the filing said.

As Rohrer was laying on the ground crying out in pain, Brooks told him, "You'll take that charge. Taylor was bit by the dog," and handcuffed Rohrer, according to the filing.

Rohrer, at the time he was handcuffed, was still holding his military ID.

The filing goes on to say that an angry crowd of bystanders gathered, with some disputing Brooks' and Taylor's claims. Brooks is alleged to have threatened bystanders, but at one point, apparently believing she had blocked the audio and video on her body camera, she said that the officers would suffer no consequences for their actions, saying, "I know they aren't going to do anything about it," the filing said.

Rohrer was taken to jail, and his service dog, Sunshine Rae, was struck by a car and killed in Cleveland County while he was incarcerated.

Charges dismissed

Taylor resigned from the Gastonia Police Department in February 2022. Brooks, who at one point posted on her personal social media account that Rohrer's defenders sounded "dumb as hell," received a three-day disciplinary suspension without pay in late January 2022. The Gastonia Police Department declined to say why she was suspended or whether it was at all connected to her Facebook post.

On July 6, the charges accusing Rohrer of panhandling and resisting arrest were dismissed. Rohrer instead pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of driving with a revoked license, and he was sentenced to two years of supervised probation. His case is intended to end up in the Catawba County Veterans Treatment Court, a special court that is focused on using the legal process to divert veterans from the criminal justice system.

Rohrer said in an interview that although the charges Brooks and Taylor leveled at him were dismissed, his fight isn't over. He wants the police to release the body camera footage of his arrest.

When WCNC Charlotte requested that a judge release it late last year, Gastonia police publicly opposed the release of the footage. Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page also opposed releasing the footage, arguing that it's evidence should Rohrer's case go to trial in District Court.

Page said in a text message Monday that he is now comfortable with the release of the footage.

When asked whether Gastonia police would again oppose the release of the footage, Gastonia City Attorney Ash Smith declined to comment.

Rohrer said that he wants the public to see the footage because he wants Gastonia police to be held accountable for their treatment of himself and his service dog.

"I didn't do anything illegal, didn't break the law, … and my civil rights were violated. I'm trying to restore my reputation. Sunshine is still gone. She's dead, … and those officers have not been held accountable for that," he said.

Reporter Kara Fohner can be reached at 704-869-1850 or at kfohner@gannett.com. Support local journalism by subscribing here.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Army National Guard vet asks Gastonia police to release video