Restaurant to service dog handler: You can't have that thing in here. What law? Ok, then put it in a cage.

JACKSONVILLE, FL - One might assume that restaurant owners, in their pursuit of business success, would familiarize themselves with state and federal law to ensure compliance. However, a recent incident at Spice Grill Indian Cuisine in Jacksonville serves as a stark reminder of the injustice that some business owners' ignorance or lack of knowledge can perpetuate. 

Under both Florida law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people who are accompanied by certified service dogs are permitted to enter all “public accommodations,” including restaurants, museums, hotels, and stores. Other locations are also permitted. 

In Florida, the law applies to animals trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities, whether physical, mental, psychiatric, sensory (hearing or vision), or intellectual. The law further provides that the animal must provide services directly related to the disability, including, for example, providing stability and balance to someone with impaired mobility or guiding someone who’s visually impaired. 

On November 17, the owner of The 1776 Project, which operates Law Enforcement Today, Blue Lives Matter, and The Police Tribune, Kyle Reyes, went to Spice Grill Indian Cuisine with eleven others.



The party arrived as the restaurant opened, and there were no other customers in the restaurant. According to a Facebook review of the restaurant, they were not immediately seated because the hostess said she had to let the owner know they had a registered service dog – a trained and licensed service dog. 


Reyes travels with all of the paperwork for "Whiskey".

The owner came out and told Reyes that he was prohibited from having the dog in the restaurant. Reyes explained that the dog was a service dog, to which the owner, Kishan Patel, said, “This isn’t a huge restaurant; there’s no room for her,” as he gestured around the empty restaurant. Reyes explained the dog sits under the table at his feet (example below), to which Patel responded that it wasn’t acceptable.



He then suggested that Reyes purchase a cage to put the dog in after the state and federal laws were explained to him. 

Reyes noted in his review, “There’s no room for her to be on my feet under the table…but apparently there’s room for a cage?” 

Federal law effectively says that a service dog is to be treated like a person - and there was clearly plenty of room for additional people in the restaurant.

Reyes once again explained the law and told him it was very clear that service animals were permitted in public accommodations, including restaurants. Patel responded, “I know my rights!”

Reyes explained, “No problem–the 12 of us will eat somewhere else, and we’ll be reporting you to the state [of Florida] and letting the world know about it.” 

This caused Patel to become “enraged,” who then said, “Fine. I’ll make an exception.” 

The thing is... you don't "make an exception" to the law.

Reyes and his party felt things were pretty weird at that point and decided to eat elsewhere, not trusting the unhinged owner to touch their food.

As Reyes and his party left the restaurant, Reyes turned to take a picture of the outside of the restaurant to document the name and location. Patel and one of his employees came from around the front and the back of the restaurant, approached Reyes and his companions, and the owner started yelling.

After Reyes again explained that he was reporting him, Patel said, “See, see, I’m not denying you service.” Reyes explained that he indeed had denied service and that it was too late–the damage was done and they didn’t trust him to cook their food properly. 

Patel then again became angry, saying that he had “it all on camera,” to which Reyes replied, “Outstanding. You can share the footage of you violating the law with law enforcement and the world.” They then left and went to another restaurant - Taste of India in St. John's, Florida which welcomed the families and the service dog with open arms.

In response to Reyes’s review, Patel said he wanted to address the “misunderstanding” that he denied service to a customer with a service dog. He said there was “no denial of service” to anyone. 

Patel explained that a family of five (there were actually 12) plus the dog visited the restaurant. He said the restaurant only seats 48 people, and a party of 18 was expected at 6:00 p.m.

“I gently asked the family if it would be possible to place the dog in a cage, purely out of concern for the limited space and comfort of all diners,” Patel said, adding that “this request upset them.” 

Patel claimed he said the dog could remain, but the female walked out, while the male guest (assuming he meant Reyes) “became angry, threatened to sue, and began taking photos of the restaurant.”  (The only photo Reyes took was of the outside of the building, from the parking lot.)

In explaining the request to place the dog in a cage, Patel said he had “welcomed customers with service dogs many times before without issue” and continued that the “request for the cage was purely due to the space constraints and specific circumstances of that evening.” He continued that he felt he was being “judged unfairly", despite acknowledging that he was breaking the law.

Reyes disputed the explanation of a cage, pointing out that putting it under the table would have taken up more room than the dog by itself - and that not only does no service dog owner travel "with a cage" - but that the very demand was a violation of the law.

This incident is being publicized not to create a problem for the restaurant or its owner but to raise awareness of this issue. It is crucial that business owners, and the public at large, are fully informed about the state and federal laws regarding licensed and certified service dogs and their obligations.

Many of our brother and sister first responders in law enforcement, fire service, and EMS, as well as our military veterans, suffer from PTSD and may require the use of service dogs. 

Mat Silverman, the National President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, was enraged when he learned about the illegal discrimination - and even more angry when he saw a handful of trolls arguing in the comments that Whiskey isn't a "real" service dog.



Silverman shared the following with Law Enforcement Today:

"I am a law enforcement officers with over 23 years of experience. My first major incident was September 11, 2001. On top of being a police officer I have spent over a decade as a firefighter.

I have seen the worst of the worst and have responded to the anthrax attacks at the United States Capitol, January 6th, and the mass riots across the country in 2020.

I have been to motor vehicle accidents where people have lost their lives, house fires where children were killed and pulled children out of pools after drowning. I have been to shooting scenes where officers were involved, innocent bystanders struck and killed.

The list goes on and on. I was awarded a service dog after years on a wait list, this service dog is the one so many people want to make uneducated comments about.



Several months ago I was forced to re-home my service dog Whiskey because of personal reasons. This was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made and the pain I am feeling still is unbearable.



After assisting with the process to find a new home for Whiskey and jumping through all the hopes to be qualified and certified with her, Kyle Reyes was chosen to be her new handler. One of the issues with a service dog is people don’t always understand the laws although they feel they do.



I get it though, so many people have 'fake' service dogs and these people are hurting the ones who really need it.



Whiskey is without a question a legitimately trained and certified service dog, with well over 2500 hours of training even before she was reassigned to Reyes and continued additional training.  Reyes not only has copies of all of the legal paperwork and certification, but travels with it and has in fact even gone so far as to publish several of the certifying documents for the world to see.



I want to share some of the pictures of when I had Whiskey - some of which were taken during the reassignment of Whiskey to Reyes throughout the transition process.



Let me ask you this: do you really believe the White House, The Pentagon and the United States Supreme Court will allow anything other than a certified service dog through their doors?  Think again.



To boot - Reyes owns the largest police news outlet in the world, and I'm on the company's board of advisors - which includes the heads of the largest police groups in the country.  Anyone who thinks for a second that this man is 'pretending' to have a service dog is out of their mind.



But at the very least, this is an opportunity to reaffirm the rights of Americans who have service dogs... and educate business owners on how to make sure they aren't breaking the law."



The restaurant, Spice Grill Indian Cuisine, has since changed the settings on their Facebook page to block anyone who hasn't followed them for at least 24 hours from commenting on any of their posts.  For those looking to help educate them on the law, their phone number is (904) 450-5323.

You can connect with Whiskey's handler - the owner of Law Enforcement Today / Blue Lives Matter - on LinkedIn here.