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The family of a woman killed by an Arlington policeman two years ago is suing the city as well as the officer who fatally shot her.
Troy Brooks, the father of Margarita “Maggie” Brooks, filed the federal wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday. It seeks damages in excess of $1 million.
The office of Arlington’s city attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment. It was unclear whether former Officer Ravinder Singh had a civil attorney.
Singh was among the officers who responded the afternoon of Aug. 1, 2019, to North Collins Street and Cantor Drive, where someone had reported that Maggie Brooks was passed out in a grassy area near a shopping center.
Body-camera footage released by police the day after the shooting shows Singh approach the 30-year-old woman and ask whether she’s OK. Her dog then starts to run at the officer while barking.
Singh, backpedaling, fires three shots just seconds later and the dog runs back toward Brooks.
“What the [expletive],” Brooks screams. “Oh my God. Police shot me.”
Singh reports the gunshots and then approaches Brooks, telling her to get her dog under control.
Brooks, who had been struck once in the chest, died at a hospital a short time later. Police said the dog, a 40-pound Labrador retriever mix, was grazed by a bullet.
The lawsuit alleges that Singh disregarded the risk to Brooks when he shot at the dog while she was in the line of fire, leading to an “agonizing” death. It says the city is culpable because the officer was using a city-issued firearm.
Singh, who resigned from the department three months after the shooting, was indicted last year on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony. That case is still pending.