After Jackson was seated, the dog lunged twice at his face, inflicting deep bite wounds requiring a trip to the hospital and 28 stitches, according to Jackson’s attorney.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the police account describes Mundy as a military service member with the Marine Corps who "advised that the dog was issued to him for support."
The Americans with Disabilities Act allows people to bring service dogs into restaurants and other public places as the dog is trained to help an individual overcome a physical barrier or provide warning or allay an episode related to a brain disorder. The rules for flying, however, are looser when it comes to people who wish to be accompanied by emotional support animals, and that has created both complaints and confusion.
An entire segment of online merchants sell official-looking service animal certificates, animal vests — and even professed professional mental health diagnoses, a stipulation of the Air Carrier Access Act. The paraphernalia has helped people stretch the rules to also take pets into grocery stores, amusement parks and restaurants.
The practice is insulting to those who say they genuinely need the assistance of a service dog to overcome a disability, said Karen Shirk, executive director of 4 Paws for Ability in Xenia, which has trained more than 1,000 service dogs for disabled children.
“Faking service dogs is one of the worst things anybody can do,” Shirk told this newspaper last fall for a special report on the topic. “It’s infuriating on so many levels. Just the thought that somebody would — the same as the handicap placards in the cars — take advantage of something that was supposed to make a disabled person’s life easier.”
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