Gastonia police release body camera footage of homeless veteran's controversial arrest

A judge ordered Gastonia police to release the video of Joshua Rohrer's October 2021 arrest on Wednesday. Rohrer was arrested on charges of panhandling and resisting arrest during the incident. According to Rohrer, his service dog, Sunshine, was shot with a stun gun during the encounter. Sunshine later died after being struck by a car while in the care of Rohrer's veteran advocate.

Rohrer, his attorney and a few of his loved ones were allowed to see the video after the incident. His case garnered national attention, with WCNC Charlotte leading a media coalition to have the video released. The coalition's petition was rejected by a North Carolina judge in December 2021. Law enforcement officials said they opposed releasing the videos until after Rohrer's court proceedings, questioning whether the "right to a fair trial" would be diminished if the videos were made public.

Rohrer reached a plea agreement on July 6 that saw all charges related to the incident being dropped. The district attorney's office said Rohrer's charges were presented to a grand jury twice with probable cause being found to support the charges on both occasions. However, the agreement reached with Rohrer saw him plead guilty to an unrelated charge of driving with a revoked license.

The judge approved a request from the district attorney and Gastonia Police Department Wednesday to release footage of interactions between the arresting officers and Rohrer days before his arrest on Oct. 9, 2021. Rohrer and his attorney had not seen that footage as of Wednesday.

Rohrer accused the police of lying about what happened, saying what stood out most to him was when an officer used his stun gun on Sunshine after the officer claimed she bit his boot.

Protesters stood outside the Gaston County Courthouse last week with signs calling for the video's release. Rohrer said he wanted the video released to hold the officers accountable and to clear his name of what he called an "unfair" arrest.