Ravi Singh was accused of criminally negligent homicide after opening fire on a dog running towards him. A bullet ricocheted and hit the dog's owner, killing her. “No one should have taken that shot, ever,” the slain woman's father said after the verdict.
A Texas police officer has been acquitted in the death of a woman he accidentally shot while aiming at her dog.
Ravi Singh had been on street patrol in Arlington for just a month when he responded to a welfare check on a woman seen lying with her dog on the grass.
Bodycam video shows the dog running toward Singh, who yelled “Get back!” before opening fire on the animal. The woman on ground, Maggie Brooks, was shot instead and died of a chest wound.
Jurors found Singh not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The decision was “extremely disappointing” for Brooks’ father, Troy.
“No one should have taken that shot, ever,” the father said.
Maggie Brooks leaves behind three kids.
“How do you explain to these kids, they get to see on YouTube, if they choose to, everyday their mother being killed, and no one is held responsible?” Troy said.
During the trial, jurors learned that Maggie Brooks was killed by a bullet that had ricocheted.
The defense said Singh feared he would be mauled, and the shooting of Maggie Brooks was accidental. The former Marine, who resigned from the force, addressed the family following his acquittal.
“My sincere condolences to the Brooks family and her friends for their loss. I, too, have been at a loss, because the outcome of my actions has not been easy to bear,” Singh said.
Maggie Brooks’ father says his daughter lived a troubled life and was homeless at the time of the shooting. Her dog Marilyn was her companion.
“She sleeps every night on one of my grandchildren’s beds. It’s what we have left of my daughter Maggie,” Troy said.
The woman's family has filed a wrongful death suit against the city and the former police officer. They have both moved to dismiss the case.
