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DELAWARE CITY, Del. (WTXF) - Video of a woman verbally berating a veteran for having his service dog inside a local restaurant has gone viral. The woman at the center of it all says she and her family are being harassed and reached out to FOX 29 to tell her side of the story.
Our Hank Flynn went looking for a deeper meaning in the incident and here's what he found.
Ciara Miller flipped out at a Delaware City crab restaurant recently she was livid over a PTSD service dog that was in the establishment. It was all caught on camera. The video went stratospheric with hundreds of thousands of hits. Dr. Andre Watson has a service dog as well. He's blind but believe it or not he's seen such blowups.
"Those kinds of reactions are not so few and far between they do happen," he said.
Service dogs are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act. It is bad behavior beyond question. You're in a restaurant -- get ahold of yourself. Other tempers do flare; however, Ms. Miller is certainly the star of the show. Now, when our Dave Kinchen sat with Ms. Miller yesterday to get her side of things she said racism prior to the video recording was part of what set her off.
Plenty of people online have doubted Miller's racism charge. Dr. Andre says if it's true it is terrible, especially considering the current political climate. But he's clear that in case it's completely beside the point.
"There are other better ways of handling that. Being African American I know what it feels like. We know what it feels like to go into a store and be followed around," he said. "We know what it feels like when people cross to the other side of the street. But you're not going to run up to the person and tell them, 'Where are you going?' 'What you got a problem with?' Because now you're looking like the fool," he said.
Dr. Andre adds that Ms. Miller will be the one to suffer most from the video and she has complained of ugly calls and being afraid to send her daughter to school.
Dr. Andre adds though and this is my take as well that people are not usually who they seem in their recorded worst moments haven't you ever lost your temper? The internet can be cruel. People deserve second chances.