Ex-Arlington cop found not guilty in the shooting of a woman whose dog charged him

A jury on Monday found former Arlington Police Officer Ravinder Singh not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2019 death of a woman living outdoors who he shot as he intended to fire upon her charging dog.

The panel appeared to have been persuaded by the defense argument that the shooting had been a tragic accident that occurred during a moment of acute stress and involved a double ricocheted bullet that first struck the dog and a sidewalk before it tore through Margarita Brooks’ heart.

The jury of eight women and four men in 371st District Court in Tarrant County deliberated for about 10 hours before it reached the verdict after a four-day trial. He faced up to two years in prison if convicted.

After the verdict, Singh read a statement outside the courtroom.

“My sincere condolences to the Brooks family and her friends for their loss,” Singh said. “I, too, have been at a loss, because the outcome of my actions has not been easy to bear. It has been my intention to serve my country as a United States Marine and an Arlington police officer. I am deeply sorry.”

Singh, 28, resigned from the department in November 2019, about three months after Brooks’ death. He avoided questions on Monday about what sort of work he would now pursue.

In their closing arguments, defense attorneys Kathy Lowthorp and Rafael Sierra recounted that Singh arrived at the scene along a narrow grass path between apartments and a commercial area intending to help someone. He did not expect to encounter an unleashed dog with powerful jaws, the attorneys said.

When he fired upon the dog, Singh experienced tunnel vision, a phenomenon in which a person’s brain is, under stress, exclusively focused on an immediate, grave threat, the defense argued.

“This is a fluke. This is an accident. Accidents happen,” Lowthorp said.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Tim Rodgers asked jurors to recall their first thoughts when they viewed Singh’s body-worn video recording of the shooting and to discount the defense experts’ measurements on distance, speed, angle and trajectory that Rodgers suggested may have been calculated with flawed assumptions.

“Not one of those shots should’ve been taken. Much less two. Much less three,” he said.

Later, Rodgers offered a verbal twist on the defense assertion that Brooks’ death was the result of a tragic accident.

“It is a tragedy,” he said. “But it’s not an accident.”

Singh was checking on Brooks after a man called 911 to report she was unconscious. As the dog approached, Singh fired three rounds from a handgun. Brooks, who was behind the dog on a blanket in grass next to a sidewalk, was shot in her forearm and chest.

Singh feared he and a paramedic behind him could be mauled by the charging dog, Singh’s defense attorneys argued to jurors.

Prosecutors alleged Brooks’ death was a criminal act in which the victim was an innocent person.

Singh graduated from the police academy in February 2019 and completed field training July 1, a month before the shooting.

Singh’s body-worn camera recording showed the officer searching for a while without success, then walking on a sidewalk with a fence on one side and grass and thick trees on the other. He called out to Brooks.

“Hello? Are you OK?” Singh asked. “Is that your dog? Can you ... ”

The dog ran toward him. “Get back!” Singh shouts.

The officer fired at the dog, grazing the animal, and finding that a bullet had struck Brooks.

The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office issued a statement after the verdict.

“A jury heard the facts related to the death of Ms. Brooks in 2019. They evaluated the testimony and evidence and determined that Ravinder Singh was not guilty. By doing so, the jury fulfilled their duty in the criminal justice system, as did we.”