Arlington Police Release Body Cam Video Of Officer Trying To Shoot Dog, But Accidentally Killing Woman
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Arlington Police released an officer's body cam video less than 24 hours after the rookie officer shot and killed a woman lying in the grass, while trying to shoot a dog charging at him.
The officer on the video says, "Hello, are you OK? Is that your dog? can you get… get back!" Then he fires his weapon multiple times.
The dog did belong to Margarita Brooks, 30.
Police Chief Will Johnson said some of Brooks' family watched the video Friday.
Chief Johnson said they wanted to put this out in the interest of transparency because of all the questions surrounding the shooting.
Brooks and her dog were well-known around the shopping center off North Collins.
The dog, a lab mix, weighs about 40 pounds and was said to be friendly with people in the area.
"It was never on a leash," said store owner Justin Patton. "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."
Clearly this is not the outcome the officer wanted," Chief Johnson said.
Brooks' boyfriend was not there when the shooting happened, but was doing some work at a nearby business.
The dog is in quarantine at the Arlington Animal Shelter.
The officer had worked at the jail and was on reserve status last year.
He cleared training one month ago, on July 1.
There is both a criminal and internal affairs investigation into the incident.