A portion of a tollway in Houston was renamed after Indian-American police officer Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal who was shot dead on duty during a traffic stop.
Dhaliwal, 42, was the first Sikh sheriff’s deputy in Harris county with a population of over 10,000 Sikhs. He made national headlines when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job.
He was gunned down in September last year while conducting a routine mid-day traffic stop in northwest of Houston.
Dhaliwal was scheduled to be promoted to a supervisor role where he would have mentored younger deputies on community policing. His death resonated across the US and the world and tributes to his memory continued with the renaming of a section of Beltway 8 tollway between Texas 249 and US 290 after him last week.
The Harris County Toll Road Authority put up the sign ‘HCSO Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Tollway’ near Texas 249 in the memory of the Indian-American police officer. A special ceremony was also performed at the Gurdwara Sikh National Centre on the occasion.
Dhaliwal, a father of three, joined the force 10 years back and was the state’s first law enforcement officer to receive permission to wear a religious turban and beard while on duty.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who hired Dhaliwal 10 years ago, said, I was honored to commemorate a section of the Beltway 8 as ‘Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Tollway’ to honor one of HC’s finest who paid the ultimate sacrifice. His family attended the ceremony.
