Assault charges are withdrawn after brothers dragged customer out of Miltons restaurant in Kitchener

KITCHENER - Two brothers who work at Miltons restaurant will not be put on trial after a widely-shared video showed them forcefully removing a customer and his service dog last year.

Prosecutors withdrew all charges against the brothers Tuesday after each wrote a personal letter of apology to the customer. Each brother donated $1,500 to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Athanasios Gianopoulos, 54, and Louis Gianopoulos, 55, were facing assault charges. Louis, who is listed as the person who registered the restaurant on a business document, was further charged with uttering threats.

The brothers no longer face prosecution after all parties, including the customer, agreed to a deal to divert the case from court, according to details made public in a Kitchener courtroom.

The disturbance happened last November inside the restaurant which is on King Street East near Fairway Road South in Kitchener.

In the video, two men were seen pushing customer Justin Leckie, bringing him to the floor and at times holding Leckie's feet as if to drag him out.

One of the men was heard threatening to kick Leckie in the head. Voices off camera were calling out for the men to stop, that they were hurting him.

Leckie has Asperger's - a form of autism - along with obsessive-compulsive disorder and an anxiety disorder and is subject to bouts of depression and panic attacks. He went to Miltons with his service dog, Epi, for wings.

The video captured at Miltons sparked community outrage and led to a boycott. In the days that followed, people gathered on the King Street sidewalk with signs, warning people not to support the restaurant.

As part of the deal to see charges withdrawn, the Gianopoulos brothers erected signs at the restaurant welcoming service dogs. They put watering bowls out for dogs, on the patio and at the front entrance.

Last month Miltons was listed for sale for $495,000.

After the video involving Leckie was shared online, some local restaurants posted offers on social media inviting him to visit and eat for free, and encouraged him to bring his service dog with him.

An online fundraiser was set up to help the friend in our community who was deserving of exceptional restaurant service with his dog." The GoFundMe page raised more than $3,800.

Backlash to the video was shared so widely, a Milton's Family Restaurant in Albany, Ind., began receiving angry comments and wrote on its Facebook page to clarify that its business was not involved.

Jeff Outhit is a Waterloo Region-based general assignment reporter for The Record. Reach him via email: jouthit@therecord.com