Dallas cop who killed Jordan Edwards has been fired

The police chief says a body camera video contradicts Oliver's original story about the events of that night

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published May 3, 2017 1:42PM (EDT)

  (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)
(Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

A day after a suburban Dallas police department had to retract their earlier story regarding the shooting death of 15-year-old African American Jordan Edwards, the officer responsible for killing the teenager has been fired.

Officer Roy Oliver of the Balch Springs Police Department has been fired for firing his rifle into a car of unarmed teenagers as it was driving away from him, according to a report by Reuters. One of his bullets struck Jordan Edwards in the head, killing him while two of his brothers watched.

Although Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber initially told reporters that Oliver had shot into the vehicle because it was backing toward him "in an aggressive manner," he now says that he only offered that narrative because it was provided to him by Oliver at the time. Video footage taken from a body camera has since then disproved Oliver's version of events, since it is reported to show the car driving away from Oliver instead of toward him.

The video itself has not been released to the public.

In a statement, the Balch Springs Police Department says regarding Oliver's firing that it "cannot give further details on which policies have been violated since Roy Oliver can appeal the termination." Edwards' family, however, is not satisfied with Oliver simply being fired and wants him tried for murder, with their lawyer S. Lee Merritt saying "the magnitude of his horrible actions cannot be overstated."

Oliver's lawyer has told the Dallas Morning News that they have no comments at this time.

 

 


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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