CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A woman claims she and her service dog were denied entry into a King Street store.
She states the incident happened last Sunday and involved the store, Cocolat by Adam Turoni.
A woman claims she and her service dog were denied entry into a King Street store. (Courtesy: Jessica Paulsen)
Jessica Paulsen says she goes everywhere with her cardiac service dog, Henry, and has had him for five years.
"It is me and Henry always, always, like there is no me without him. So he has been all over the world with me and I could not have gone anywhere without him," says Paulsen.
She says she has only been denied entry to a location because of Henry once before. But it happened a second time last Sunday.
"He is never not with me, like ever. He goes to work with me, I mean that is how essential it is. There is no me going in the chocolate store without him. So by denying entry to Henry, she was denying me," says Paulsen.
Store co-founder Alexandra Trujillo De Taylor claims Henry was not acting like a proper service dog. She says Henry was tugging at his owner's leash, giving her the ability to tell Henry and Jessica to leave.
According to the ADA website, a person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless "(1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal's presence."
Paulsen is calling for more awareness around service dogs.
"If you have a truly trained service dog for a medical condition, there is no way to fake it. But if you had just a regular dog, that you know you are just pretending as a service dog, you really easily fall out of being covered by the law."
There are two questions store owners are legally able to ask service dog owners: "is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?" and "what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?"
According to the ADA, "staff cannot ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task."
She states the incident happened last Sunday and involved the store, Cocolat by Adam Turoni.
A woman claims she and her service dog were denied entry into a King Street store. (Courtesy: Jessica Paulsen)
Jessica Paulsen says she goes everywhere with her cardiac service dog, Henry, and has had him for five years.
"It is me and Henry always, always, like there is no me without him. So he has been all over the world with me and I could not have gone anywhere without him," says Paulsen.
She says she has only been denied entry to a location because of Henry once before. But it happened a second time last Sunday.
"He is never not with me, like ever. He goes to work with me, I mean that is how essential it is. There is no me going in the chocolate store without him. So by denying entry to Henry, she was denying me," says Paulsen.
Store co-founder Alexandra Trujillo De Taylor claims Henry was not acting like a proper service dog. She says Henry was tugging at his owner's leash, giving her the ability to tell Henry and Jessica to leave.
According to the ADA website, a person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless "(1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal's presence."
Paulsen is calling for more awareness around service dogs.
"If you have a truly trained service dog for a medical condition, there is no way to fake it. But if you had just a regular dog, that you know you are just pretending as a service dog, you really easily fall out of being covered by the law."
There are two questions store owners are legally able to ask service dog owners: "is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?" and "what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?"
According to the ADA, "staff cannot ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task."
