HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A growing memorial to late Harris County Sheriff’s deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal is a temporary reminder of his tragic death along Willancy Lane in NW Harris County.
“A lot of the community is taking it very hard,” said neighbor James Cameron. “He was very beloved to us.”
A more permanent legacy is the National Night Out event Dhaliwal helped the Copperbrook HOA expand over the five years he served the area.
It’s an event neighbors decided not to cancel in order to honor him days after his death.
They spent most of Tuesday afternoon preparing for it.
“He was very, very much loved by all of the community,” said HOA President Francesca Garcia. “He did so much for us, so we’re going to be all here to support him.”
Garcia met with Dhaliwal last Friday not long before his final traffic stop near her home.
It’s a situation from which he did not walk away.
“We were on the phone every single day talking about this event this past week,” said Garcia. “He came to my house and dropped off posters right before the incident.”
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Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Dhaliwal treated every day like National Night Out by constantly working to build relationships with the communities he served. That’s something the Copperbrook community will dearly miss.
“He will be very missed,” said Cameron. “And whatever deputy comes to replace him, it’ll be hard for them to live up to his high standard that he set.”
National Night Out in the Copperbrook area runs from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. tonight.
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