Sikh American officer 'ambushed' in routine traffice stop

HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal was the first Sikh allowed to wear a turban and beard as a Harris County deputy.

A police officer who made headlines as the first Texas Sikh allowed to wear his beard and turban as articles of faith while on duty was killed during a routine traffic stop on Friday (Sept. 27).

The man accused of killing a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Friday in an "ambush-style" attack was wanted for violating his parole and had been pulled over for running a stop sign, officials said.

It looked like a routine traffic stop to Dhaliwal. After conversing with the driver he walked back to his patrol car. The driver remained in the car. Within three to five seconds, the door on the driver’s side of the stopped vehicle opened and the driver, brandishing a gun, ran up behind the deputy said Sheriff officials.

A woman doing yard work who observed the traffic stop heard two gunshots and saw the gunman flee, the major said. She called 911 and law enforcement officers descended on the scene.

Based on witness descriptions and video cam from the patrol car, police stopped the suspect less than a mile away coming out of an ice cream shop and arrested.

Suspect Robert Solis, 47, was denied a bond during his initial court hearing early Saturday, which Solis missed for medical reasons, according to prosecutors and the judge in the case. He is facing a capital murder charge.

Solis was previously convicted of felony charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2002. He received 20-year jail sentences for those charges, though it’s not clear how much of that sentence he ultimately served.

Fellow deputies and members of the community remembered with a heavy heart  Dhaliwa's life Friday evening, reported KHOU.

In 2015, Dhaliwal became the first Texas police officer approved to wear the Sikh religion’s traditional turban and a beard while on duty, according to the Associated Press. 

Community members mourned slain Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal in a vigil last Friday.

“Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran, was a hero, was a respected member of the community and he was a trailblazer,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a press conference Friday afternoon. “He was a father ... of three children, he was a husband, a brother and a son.”

“He was a hero. Deputy Dhaliwal was a trailblazer,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said after the shooting to the NY Post.

“I’m heartbroken because he’s a personal friend of mine,” Gonzalez told KHOU. “He’s very respected.”

A community-led vigil took place Friday night in honor of Dhaliwal. His funeral, which will be open to the public, is set for Wednesday at the Berry Center in Houston at 10:30 a.m.

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report.

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