“I lost my hero! I can’t explain how he took care of me after his mother passed away last year. He looked after me as if he was my dad,” said a composed yet heartbroken Pyara Singh, father of the American Sikh police officer who was shot dead last Friday.
The death of Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, the first turban-wearing Sikh police officer in the American state of Texas, is being mourned across the US and the world.
According to reports, Deputy Dhaliwal was shot dead in the line of duty on September 27 in Harris County, Texas, while he was trying to stop a fugitive on the run, who was trying to violate a traffic signal.
He was airlifted to a hospital but his injuries were too grievous for survival.
Deputy Dhaliwal was the first police officer in the state of Texas to be allowed to wear a turban. But that took six years coming.
He joined the police department in 2009 inspired by a speech delivered by the former Sheriff of Harris County, Adrian Garcia, who later became his boss.
Following a dramatic robbery in a Sikh household, Officer Garcia had visited the Houston Gurudwara to encourage members of the Sikh community to join the police force.
After years of lobbying for a change in the police department’s policy on uniforms, Officer Garcia finally allowed Sikhs to wear a turban and don a full beard. And Mr Dhaliwal was the first one to jump at it.
His wife, Harvinder Kaur was cautiously joyful at this transformation that she and the rest of the Dhaliwal family took pride in. The couple have three young children.
But tragedy hit hard last Friday when all Deputy Dhaliwal was doing was performing his duty.
According to reports, the suspect, Robert Solis ran towards Deputy Dhaliwal with a gun and shot him twice in the back of his head. The officer didn’t survive the attack.
Hours after his death on Friday, the residents of Harris County arranged a candle-light vigil in Deputy Dhaliwal’s memory. Flowers were laid at the spot where he was attacked.
A fundraiser has also been started on gofundme.com by Sikhs of Houston, a local Sikh community group, to help his family.
His sister, Ranjeet Kaur paid an emotional tribute to her brother.
“He was a great man. He always helped people even when he wasn’t at work. During the recent Hurricane Harvey, he drove a truck of supplies for the victims. I think he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” she rued.
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