Business & Tech

Veteran Accepts Village Cafe's Apology for Service Dog Refusal

Pat Horan, the veteran who was asked to leave the Village Cafe because of a service dog, accepted an apology from the owner.

The Army veteran who was asked to leave the Village Cafe on Wednesday has accepted an apology from the owners. 

Mo Aminfar apologized to the veteran, Pat Horan, via WUSA9, where Horan's sister-in-law Peggy Fox works as a reporter. He also called Horan and invited him to eat at the cafe. Horan accepted both the apology and the invitation. The business will also make a donation to the charity that provided Horan's service dog. 

Centreville Patch first reported the story on Wednesday, hours after the incident occurred. The owners were still trying to contact Horan at that point, but made a public apology that was posted online. The Americans With Disabilities Act requires that service dogs be allowed in public establishments. 

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Related: Village Cafe Apologizes After Asking Wounded Veteran to Remove Service Dog

"What we did was wrong. We fully admit that we made a mistake," Sherwin Aminifar, the owner's son, who runs a Village Cafe food truck, told Patch Wednesday. Patch was unable to reach Horan for comment Wednesday.

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Dozens of angry comments filled the Village Cafe's Facebook wall after the incident, but 90 people "liked" a recent status message that read in part:

"We want to thank everyone for their positive comments and support and also for the criticism which has increased our awareness and taught us a lesson. We have publicly apologized on the news today to the veteran Pat Horan. We also personally talked to him on the phone to reiterate our apologies and have invited him, his wife and service dog to our restaurant. HE ACCEPTED OUR APOLOGY and took us up on our offer, and we hope that everyone on this thread can also accept our apologies. At this point, we must move forward. As human being's we all make mistakes, correcting them is what matters, and we plan to do so!"


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