Jaishankar Condemns Fatal Shooting Of America’s First Turbaned Sikh Police Officer In Texas

Union Minister for External Affairs, S Jaishankar on Saturday (28 September) expressed grief over the shooting of the first turbaned Sikh police officer serving in the United States of America and condemned the incident, reports Indian Express.

Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, an Indian American police officer was shot at a traffic stop near Houston in Texas, where Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had recently addressed a rousing rally of over 50,000 Indian Americans along with President of the United States, Donald Trump.

Jaishankar took to Twitter to extend condolences to the aggrieved family. He tweeted, "Deeply grieved to learn of the shooting of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, a Sikh Indian-American officer in Houston. We have just visited that city. My condolences to his family."

42-years-old Dhaliwal who joined the force 10 years ago happened to be the second deputy in Texas to have killed while making the traffic stop in 2019. As per Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Dhaliwal had been shot at least twice.

Delving into the details of how things escalated, Sheriff Gonzalez's Major, Mike Lee shared, "Dhaliwal’s dashboard camera captured video showing Dhaliwal speaking with the driver in what appeared to be a conversational tone with 'no combat, no arguing'.

The driver’s door was opened at one point, and Dhaliwal shut it as the driver remained in the vehicle. When Dhaliwal turned to walk back to his patrol car, the driver steps from the car almost immediately running with a gun already out. The driver shot the deputy from behind, hitting him in the back of the head. The driver got back in his car and drove away."