PARTNERS: Sgt. Charles Hernadez with service dog Valor yesterday. (
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These chicken slingers would be up for a court-martial if the Colonel were still alive!
A highly decorated Army war hero is suing the operators of a KFC in The Bronx, saying they violated federal law by refusing to serve him because he was accompanied by his registered service dog.
Disabled Army National Guard Sgt. Charles Hernandez, 50, says he relies on Valor — a 4-year-old Labrador retriever-great Dane mix — to help cope with posttraumatic stress disorder, panic attacks and spinal-cord injuries related to three decades of service that included a tour in Iraq.
In his $1 million lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court, Hernandez claims he was turned away on Feb. 26 in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act during a visit with Valor to the KFC at 1 West Fordham Road.
Hernandez told The Post one employee “disrespectfully” referred to him repeatedly as “Papi,” saying, “Papi, there is no dogs allowed.”
After Hernandez explained to the man that his “partner” Valor, by law, has every right to accompany him, the staffer shot back, “OK, but you still cannot have the dog in the store.”
Hernandez, who has relied on Valor since 2010, said he became even more peeved because the restaurant’s manager, Sade Clark, observed the “discrimination” and “refused to do anything.”
“I was frustrated, angry and more, depressed,” Hernandez said. “No one was helping. Rather than understanding the needs of a person, they shut me out.
“The dog has just as many rights as they do. He doesn’t bark or bite unless he is threatened. He’s my security blanket. He keeps me grounded.”
Hernandez said it was his first time inside that KFC and he was looking to buy a meal to eat with prescribed medication.
Hernandez in 2011 won an undisclosed settlement in a similar legal battle. He had slapped a McDonald’s in Times Square with a $4 million lawsuit alleging he was cursed at by a manager for entering with his service dog.
Hernandez’s lawyer, David Lackowitz, said his client decided to pursue the latest suit because “the more he tried to calmly explain the law to the workers, the more agitated they got.”
The suit names as defendants Star Partner Enterprises Two LLC, the owner of the Bronx KFC franchise; that company’s principal owner, Thomas Rose; Clark; and the unnamed staffer who first refused to serve the sergeant.
The suit seeks at least $1 million in damages.
Hernandez, of The Bronx, is the son of disabled parents and was raised in poverty in Chinatown, the suit says.
He was among the “first soldiers” to arrive at the World Trade Center site following 9/11 and spent three months there helping retrieve bodies, the suit says.
In October 2004, he reported to Iraq where his service there helped him earn several medals. The suit notes that he is “awaiting receipt of the Bronze Star,” has been honored as grand marshal of the Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade and by the City Council as “Veteran of the Year” in 2011.
None of the named defendants returned calls for comment.