15-Year-Old Jordan Edwards Fatally Shot By Texas Police Officer
Photo via Attorney S. Lee Merritt
Photo via Attorney S. Lee Merritt
The family of Jordan Edwards, the 15-year-old who was fatally shot by a Texas police officer, has filed a lawsuit against (now former) Balch Springs Police Officer Roy Oliver and the Balch Springs Police Department.
Filed on Friday, the lawsuit reportedly accuses the department of inadequately training Oliver and ignoring warning signs that he was prone to erratic behavior.
The suit said that the department should have known of Oliver's aggressive behavior and that he "exhibited a pattern of escalating encounters with the public." Recently, a complaint filed by prosecutors against Oliver was revealed, in which prosecutors said that it was difficult getting the former cop to attend the trial. The complaint detailed that Oliver was angry to be there and that he used obscene language throughout the trial, even cursing during his testimony.
Following Edwards' death, Oliver was fired from the department. He then turned himself in after being charged with murder in the shooting and was later released on $300,000 bail. However, if convicted, Oliver could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Edwards' family also accuses Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber and the department of failing "to provide adequate training to Oliver on appropriate methods and techniques to control situations similar to the one," referring to the incident in which police officers were called to investigate a party where underage teens were allegedly drinking.
"There was no reason that any person in America — not just a black person — should ever have to bury their 15-year-old child who was doing everything right in life," Jasmine Crockett, one of the family's attorneys, said Sunday according to the Associated Press.
A funeral service was held for Edwards on Saturday at a Baptist church in Mesquite, Texas. Over 800 people were in attendance, including city officials and gospel singer Kirk Franklin.
