The Arlington, Tx., Police Department released this week the body cam footage from a recent incident in which an officer accidentally shot and killed a woman while trying to shoot her dog.
The 25-year-old officer, who had completed his field training only months before, had been dispatched to find a woman who was reportedly suffering from a medical emergency. He accidentally shot and killed 30-year-old Margarita Brooks after her dog began to run and bark at him.
“Our hearts are broken for the Brooks family and the police officer involved,” Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said during a press conference. “Everything about this call is an absolute tragedy. Clearly this is not the outcome the officer wanted, nor is it the outcome our department wanted.”
“Ms. Brooks was never the intended target of the officer’s use of force, but we know as police officers that we are accountable for our actions.”
An unidentified caller reported a female passed out in a grassy area behind a local business on Cantor Drive, Johnson explained.
“Hello? Are you ok? Is that your dog? Can you get him…” the officer asks the woman in the body cam footage.
SEE ALSO: Watch: Little Rock Officer Fires 15 Rounds into Windshield of Stolen Vehicle
The dog, a 40-pound Lab mix, begins to bark and run at the officer. The officer shouts, “Get back!” while retreating and pulling his sidearm. He fires three shots at the dog, who immediately turns and runs in the opposite direction. The dog was uninjured, but one of the officer’s shots hit Brooks in the chest. The officer assisted with first aid until EMS personnel arrived, but Brooks died at the hospital later that day.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her cause of death a homicide, according to CBS DFW.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending criminal and administrative investigations.
Brooks, her dog, and her boyfriend were regular visitors to that section of town, and the dog had never before shown signs of aggression.
“It was never on a leash,” local store owner Justin Patton told CBS DFW. “We saw that couple every single day with that dog. It would follow ’em out to the tree, up to the Walmart. It would interact with people, just sniff, tail wag and stuff. It was never on a leash. It was around people all day.”
SEE ALSO: WATCH: No Charges for Police Officer Who Shot, Killed Vietnam Vet in His Home
Brooks was the mother of two boys, though she had fallen on hard times in recent years, her estranged husband, Steven Smith, told NBC DFW.
“She had her struggles, but she was a good mother and she loved those boys and her face would light up when she talked about them,” Smith said.
Smith told reporters that he thinks the officer should be held accountable for his actions, but he doesn’t believe he acted with malicious intent.
“He didn’t wake up that morning thinking that that was going to go that way for him either,” Smith said. “We can sit here and say he could’ve done this, he should’ve done that, but at the end of the day the man has to live with it… Her life was taken from her and sending a man to jail isn’t going to bring her back.”
And incidentally, pepper spray DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK. Some grizzly will just run right through it like nothing. Fortunately I had a gun on me when someone else used it. I never carry pepper spray because of that and haven’t needed to in 67 years.
The officer should not be jailed, it was an accidental shooting. The fault does not lie with him, it is with the training protocall. A dog of that type and size is extremely easy to put out of action by hand but the officer was never tought that. They do not teach those things to Police Officers.
As for those who think he should be punished, then so should you be. If your mistakes never rusulted in a life being lost then that’s great. But nothing you would do, in your closed minded outlook, could make that man suffer more than he is now. He is the one who has to live with it.
In Vietnam we obliterated a village of 93 people to get to get 5 Vietcong sympathizers. There were 6 survivors. But that was Vietnam when I was 17. Get your head out of the clouds and come back down to the real world.
Many cops are aholes and some are idiots, but I thank God for them. We need them badly. I have extensive experience with firearms. When I train someone, I always preach to be aware of what is behind your target. Those bullets can skip off of concrete, hard ground or even water, and strike whatever is behind your target.
cop should be jailed
90% of dogs might run up to someone barking like that and then don’t do anything my dog does the same thing as the most lovable dog in the world that officer should be shit canned and criminal negligent charges
Update
A year later the cop was indicted on criminally negligent homicide. Possible $10,000 fine and/or up to 2 years in jail. This the least serious homicide charge below man slaughter. The case is still pending trial. The cop resigned 3 months after shooting.
A year after the criminal indictment the family finally brought a lawsuit against the city and the cop.
They will probably settle for an undisclosed amount.
Gunsamerica should provide periodic updates to these stories.
I GUESS ANY BODY CAN BE COP, KILL SOMEBODY AND CALL IT AN ACCIDENT. What a stupid fuck.
What a worthless piece of s*** Union scumbag.
you know if any cops shot my dog I don’t give a s*** what his excuse is he’d be one dead son of a b****
This guy does not need to be a police officer. Spray and pray is not a legitimate law enforcement tactic. Of course he didn’t want to shoot the women, but stupidity is no excuse. What if you or I while concealed carrying did the same thing, what do you think the outcome would be?
Why do we allow the police to carry firearms???
We can and SHOULD stop the government from killing us…
Nothing in the constitution gives the right to arms to the government… in fact the constitution (and truly the whole reason for this country and why it was founded) is ment TO LIMIT THE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT.
free people have the right to arms! The government and the POLICE ESPECIALLY DO NOT HAVE ANY RIGHT TO ARMS WHILE UNDER COLOR OR LAW.
It’s past time we disarm the police who keep killing people with impunity.
just another typical example of a snowflake cop who is probably unqualified to be there under train shot the woman be it by accident or on purpose is it relevant you are round accountable meaning if you fire a round you need to know where it’s going and these people today don’t know what de-escalation training or not to use deadly force black pepper spray a baton a taser just popping the taser would make a dog run unnecessary death caused by someone being a police officer who has no business being there unfortunately the country is full of police officers like this person and worse they can’t get qualified people so they dropped the minimum requirements and we’re supposed to be happy with them running around with weapons
Rookies should only be allowed to use water pistol for the first year after graduation.
You are not going to get “mauled” by a little lab dog – yes, you could get bitten, but it is no credible threat to a life short of the dog being rabid. Okay, the officer has no way of knowing if the dog is rabid, I get that.
But firing three shots in a populous neighborhood for the sake of warding off a dog bite? Every trained gun user across the land knows that you must, must, must be aware of where your muzzle is pointing and what is in line with the trajectory BEFORE pulling the trigger. BEFORE.
If a civilian had done the exact same thing as this particular LE, the civilian would have been arrested on the spot for about half a dozen crimes if within city limits of most cities. Further, that civilian would have been deprived of their 2nd amendment rights forevermore. Their home would be raided and EVERY firearm confiscated, probably their knife collection too, never to be returned.
But as with politicians, we seem to hold government employeess to a LOWER standard than civlians when the right thing is to hold them to a HIGHER standard.
Think I am imagining this? Check out the list of high and mighty politicians like Bill Clinton who obviously partook of Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile sex island services, and they all walk away when they should be rounded up, knee capped, and sent to prison for life. (And trust me, Epstein is too busy trying to stay cool right now to come back and spill his guts). But it is not to be, and it is a shame on this pathetic legal system that used to proudly refer to itself as blind and as a justice system. There is no justice left in it, just the different outcomes based on money and power vs. being an ordinary hapless citizen.
It is no wonder that many American citizens are FED UP with what is going on in our nation. I know I am not alone in my feelings about this.
Green punk officer should’t have tried to shoot the dog if he can’t shoot any better
than that. He also needs to learn how to handle dogs without shooting them.
Spray and Pray is never a good idea.
Scared of a small dog? What you need is more of those cowards, and give them guns!
It’s clearly a budget issue, you see.
How can they do a good, hard, brave job without MORE money?!?
If cops have a bigger budget then everything would be perfect… duh!
…. just like the reason Epstein is dead… poor poor officers who just don’t have enough money.
What if he felt the owner sicked the dog on him on purpose… and shot her on purpose. The dog was pretty far from the owner when he started Shooting. Slow motion may tell more .
Send it to a Grand Jury and let the cop have his day in court.
Pepper spray should be on every LEO for a case of a dog protecting injured owner or asnytime when using deadly force is unneccessary.
Pepper spray will stop a Grizzzly bear….a Tazer can be helpful too
most US ‘police’ are cowardly bullies – they are taught to lie and encouraged to do so , with the knowledge that the entire justice system will lie for them . more egregious crimes are committed by ‘cops’ than any other group of thugs in the USA why do you think most people call them PIGS !
This cop should worry about this lady’s sons deciding to seek revenge upon him.
FINGERS CROSSED!!!! (:
First of all, what happened is a terrible tragedy. In my opinion, from what I saw on the video is, the police officer panic, pulled his weapon and shot without identifying the target and what is in the background. In my opinion, lack of training in less than lethal weapons. The officer must be scared of dogs, what I saw was not a dangerous dog.
I once lived in Forest Park, IL. I found a rabid squirrel in my yard. I was concerned about kids in the neighborhood so I called the police. An officer showed up and was going to shoot it as it lay a foot from his feet. He took out his .38 service revolver to shoot it. He missed 2 times and finally hit it with the 3rd shot. Then he started to leave. I asked if he was going to take it for testing. He just left it for me to dispose of.
Chicken shit cop. Thats the problem now days.
I suspect the consequences for the officer would have been worse had he killed the dog, rather than the woman. There is a sizeable population who think dogs can do no wrong. Still, as a police officer, he should have had less-lethal means to deal with the threat. I’ve been stalked and attacked by dogs several times. I usually just try to bark louder and charge at them.
It might be useful to study how the lens of the camera distorts the apparent distance between the officer and the dog. From what I saw, the animal seemed to be rather far away. Too far to pose an imminent threat.
This is Why I have a fenced in yard and never ever let my Dog near the gate. Seems Police shoot at Dogs for no real good reason. If He had to shoot probably one shot into the ground a foot in front of the Policeman would have sent the Dog running. Sad story.
That cop was a friggin idiot. Who trained this moron???
There is almost never a need to shoot a dog. This is a horrible public relations issue for police, never mind that he killed a woman by accident. Pepper spray and batons are more than enough for a dog.
Never a reason? That is a foolish and incorrect statement. Pepper spray doesn’t work for shit, you’d already be getting bitten. And a 20 inch baton is it going to keep you from having your throat bit either. Keep your dog on a leash on public property.
DOGS SELDEM BITE PEOPLE FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER IF THEY FEEL THREATENED BY A PERSON THEY MAY BITE OR DROWL IN AN ATTEMPT TO HAVE THE THREAT TO THEM GO AWAY . The dog may have felt either threatened by the cop , or felt that his human was under attack , but in anycase there was no reason to use leathel force. Don’t know who trains the cops there , but you should think about having them re-trained.
Or we’ll shoot your wife!
pepper spray DOES work, i have used it before, and is very effective, its so effective the dog that tried to attack me belongs to a home owner one block away from were i run, and i see the dog often when i run in the park….. the dog still barks at me but from a distance, …wont even come close to me….
And they want to put Red Flag laws on US? The cops should be disarmed. They abuse their weapons way more than the the average gun owner. At the very least take away their semi autos and reissue model 65 revolvers. Marksmanship instead of spray the area is what’s needed.What about red flag laws for cops,doctors that issue psychotropic drugs like gum drops,and politicians- them especially. Take away their right to speak or take money from lobbyists until they can have a court date to prove their innocence. Am I the only sick of getting blamed for the mess that the Lawfare Class has created.?They dont trust me with my guns so I dont trust them with theirs. We The People have the power not them.We are their masters not the other way around.
Disarm cops? That is a ridiculous statement
He did not say “disarm cops”, so you should be more accurate in your response.
He said to reduce cops’ armament to low capacity revolvers. I agree. Cops have become a toxic combination of poor rules of engagement (see Parkland for example), and militarization, and politization. Our local police department keeps full auto weapons, grenades, and armored cars. For what? They are peace officers, not military.
You may not know, but courts have already ruled that cops are under NO legal obligation to protect anyone from anything, other than their own butts. The deputy sheriff for the Parkland shootings sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes listening to kids getting shot inside, and would not engage the shooter. The sad part is that although Scott Peterson lost his job and charges are pending against him, the courts will rule he was under no obligation LEGALLY to protect those kids, and he will sue the department for wrongful dismissal.
Further, cops like in Portland Oregon have taken to standing by watching antifa thugs commit violence against anything from those who disagree to those carrying cameras, and will not LIFT A FINGER to protect the victims. But when victims fight back against antifa, the cops arrest the victims. I support legitimate peace officers, who apply the law equally. But that is NOT what is happening in the liberal cities across America.
He did say “Cops should be disarmed.” Then he backed off and said or at least give them no more than revolvers.
I’m amazed when I watch videos how many shots cops just throw out there, as though they had no training in aiming their weapons at all. There is a little wisdom in regressing to guns with fewer rounds as primary weapons, with higher-capacity backups if needed. Spray and pray is a terrible way to deal with every perceived threat.
Hmm no riots, no mobs yelling “No justice, no peace”, husband says putting idiot cop in jail won’t bring woman back…….let me guess dead woman is white and probably a conservative.
Responding to a call concerning an unconscious woman and he is asking her to call her dog?
She wasn’t unconscious and clearly able to speak. And clearly the dog was aggressive in that moment. You’d of just gotten mauled by the dog?
No, shooting an innocent woman was definitely the way to go.
Years ago, answering an alarm on a very exclusive residence with iron gate, we had no code to enter the grounds. All of a sudden, the female owner shows up in a vehicle, keys the gate to open and 2 giant Rockweilers come charging at us. We had no time to re-act and bailed thru the open windows of our vehicles. I always felt like she did this on purpose. Just saying.
You mean you didn’t empty the mag into them??
I carry every single day and not one time have I shot and killed a dog!
If that’s the case Amazon and UPS drivers will be shooting dogs by the thousands!!
So you don’t walk into random people’s homes? Then why would you? You’re a fool.
Rottweilers always charge at you then they stop and make all kinds of nice they are just in a hurry to get the loving.
We hear of these case far to often these days . Every time I think to myself , all the free training , all of the free ammo , no range fees . Can anyone explain why hell cops can’t hit what their aiming at ?
Police appear to be more interested in getting off as many rounds as possible, as fast as possible, regardless of where those rounds may be going. Pepper spray would’ve been more than sufficent in this circumstance.
It also seemed like this type of tragedy was a lot less prevalent back when police carried six-shooters (revolvers). Perhaps (on a case by case basis, depending on their assignment) some police departments may consider only allowing newer officers to carry revolvers up until the time they’ve demonstrated their competences.
Know your target and what’s beyond it??
I agree!!
Some times things happen fast but that’s when your training should kick in!
Terrible decision and horrible outcome.
Who told you anything was free? It isn’t.
Over the years I’ve seen more than one vid of a cop/cops firing multiple shots toward a threat/perp. I say “toward” because not all of these rounds fired in rapid succession can be held on target. We never hear where all those rounds end up.
I am confused at why this is still a thing that happens with police. Why don’t they create a partnership with the Post Office and have whoever train their postal workers train the officers about dealing with dogs?????
This is just insane. I’m a dog lover and respect police, but why didn’t he : Yell , make himself larger and distract this animal? Pepper spray works great on aggressive dogs, just ask your letter carrier. Don’t officers carry collapsible batons? Stun guns?
I agree , this outcome is terribly sad, all parties are ruined for life. He needs to be held accountable. If It were a civilian, they’d be in jail.
I think the issue here is that he was not proficient with his firearm. He fired 3 rounds completely missing the dog and hitting the nearby woman.
I wonder if he had pepper spray with him. I have no idea if that works on aggressive dogs, but in a dark area and not having a clear target picture… the scene is described in such a way that puts the threat level as seemingly low.
I have had aggressive dogs chase me down and it’s amazing what a stick can do…
The unfortunate thing here is that a woman is now dead because of police error and this brings scrutiny to his dept and LEOs as a whole.
You can never have too much training, but you can certainly not have enough.
What ever happened to know what is beyound your target? And to miss the dog that badly and hit a woman several feet away? Boy needs a whole lot more range time. I agree should have reached for the pepper spray or taser if he had one.
They still teach that “you are in control, do “whatever is necessary” to control the situation” and if all else fails, “you feared for your life”.
I’m a 100% supporter of our LEO’s, but it seems like one major component of training is severely lacking, COMMON SENSE, they train so hard for survival training in shooting situations, they don’t even think about the kind of training to preserve human lives other than their own. It’s NOT supposed to be urban combat training, it’s supposed to be POLICE training, that includes training on decision making skills and whether individuals possess the ability to make certain decisions properly, especially when human lives are at stake. Everyone wants our LEO’s to go home every single night to their families, God knows they have the toughest job out there, I truly believe there is MORE to training than proficiency with your firearm.
Non LE folks deal with dogs on a daily basis and 99.999% never pull a weapon and begin firing; it isn’t safe and this is proof.
If a regular citizen had shot this woman, they would be charged @ minimum with criminally negligent Homicide.
Put his dumb ass in prison and send message that it is NOT ok to shoot dogs just because they bark or police are scared of them.
Badge number ID 10 T.
We’ve seen so much more of this in the last four decades. And it rests almost entirely on the type of academy training AND SCREENING that changed the course of who is allowed to make deadly decisions. My STRESS academy, based in harsh, para-military-style training, weeded out those that were unfit for police work. Later these academies were patterned more after college courses. What we see now in these terrible shootings are police officers with too much fear and too little common sense judgement. One commenter was spot on: WHY was his first reaction- gun? Why not pepper spray? At its root, this poor kid is not to blame. It is the department’s fault for passing him into a job he wasn’t cut out for. God bless this poor woman’s family. She deserved better. Every community does.
As more LEO’s are absolved of any wrongdoing for extremely questionable shootings like this than not, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a cop friendly grand jury or jury buys into his claim that he feared for his life. The dead victim will likely be found posthumously guilty of violating the local leash law, thus grossly contributing to her own demise, and the officer will at most get a slap on the wrist or perhaps a wrongful death suit filed against him. I hope I’m wrong, and the cop, at minimum, is fired and never serves in law enforcement again.
I don’t get the reaction from LE to constantly deal with any dog they come in contact with by shooting or trying to shoot it.
That said, any other individual would be charged at the least with manslaughter in this case. While I wish no ill will against this officer, he must be held accountable for this tragedy.
I am not advocating violence towards animals, but that dog does not seem to be a threat that merits the use of a gun. A swift kick seems like it would have easily neutralized the threatening nature of the dog without threatening its life or anyone elses life.
Are dogs immune to pepper spray?
I used OC numerous times to stop a dogs aggression. Worked every time,
And these are the type of people, according to one police chief, are the only ones responsible enough to have guns, and are exempt from weapons restrictions.
Another trigger happy cop.They should,at the least,take his badge but you know they won’t.
Having been a combat Marine, I can tell you this right now. This young man will not be able to cope with this. I don’t mean that he’ll take his life, I just mean that it has ruined his life, he’ll think about this until the day he dies.
I feel bad for him and the poor lady that he shot and anyone else involved who are related to he or the victim. Things will never be right again for either party.
I agree with you. Responding to aid and then this series of unfortunate events will ruin anyone with a shred of decency.
I’ll bet this officer is playing the scene over and over in his mind and that will last him his lifetime.
I hope so. He was an idiot who did not think. A woman is dead because of him.
God made guilt for a reason. This cop has ALOT to feel guilty about. He is guilty of killing a person!
Apparently, they’ll give anyone a badge in Arlington, TX. UFB.
This event shows early on, how he was going to conduct himself as a police officer. Talking, reasoning, and other non-confrontational methods of policing were going to be secondary to his firearm; as long as he was “justified”. In this case, I don’t think so.
I would ask that the officer be dismissed as being temperamentally unfit for police work. If he gets that bent out of shape over a lab, I can’t imagine how he would loose his sh*t over a doped up perp. For his own good as well as the public. Unless this is the fault of his training officers?
The cop is a retard with a gun!
as a former LEO, I must say that he had no threat from the dog just running at him.He shot at the dog without any hesitation at all. There should have been an assessment of whether the dog was aggressive before shooting for no apparent reason. he should be fired and charged with negligent homicide.
Yes, basically agree, based on what the video shows. Understand “assessment” can mean and be of the “split-second” life/death variety, but this clearly wasn’t such…he fired too soon plus from too far away (again, if firing was even warranted, which it appears it wasn’t at the time and circumstances) without considering his surroundings, in the background, et al. Whatever training he had recently completed, it wasn’t enough…and/or he somehow circumvented the department’s personality/temperment hiring assessment related to decision-making.