FOOD –

A video that appears to show a man with a service dog forcibly removed from a Kitchener restaurant is now the focus of a police investigation.

“It always seems rather surreal,” said Justin Leckie. “I never thought I would have to go through something like this.”

He said he was wrongly kicked out of Milton’s restaurant, along with his service dog Epi, around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“I resisted because I said ‘No, I didn’t do anything wrong.'”

Leckie said he was seated when two men approached him, demanding to see his service dog’s certification.

“I don’t just show my papers to anyone,” Leckie said. “She helps me with general anxiety, panic attacks, depression, that sort of thing.”

According to the Ontario government website, guide dogs and service animals should be allowed to stay with their owners in restaurants, grocery stores and taxis.

He said despite holding the papers in his hand, he was told to leave and was being broken in by a man who he said later identified himself as the owner of the restaurant.

“They didn’t have any,” he said. “They said if you don’t get up right now, we’ll drag you out right away.” And they did.

Alex Roy and Trinity Wojcik captured the altercation, which lasted over four minutes, on video.

“As soon as they started grabbing his jacket and his coat, putting their hands on him, that’s when we started filming,” Wojcik explains.

They later called the Waterloo Regional Police Service to intervene.

“Standing there and just witnessing it was really hard to watch and process,” Wojcik explains.

Milton’s restaurant declined to comment on the matter.

Police confirmed they were aware of the video and were investigating the circumstances surrounding it.

“Terrible for us to be in the moment,” Roy says. “But we just want justice for the man and to make sure he’s okay.”

Leckie says he wants justice too, hoping no one gets through what he did.