Expert: Ex-Balch Springs officer not justified in killing teen Jordan Edwards

The shooting of teenager Jordan Edwards in April 2017 by a then-Balch Springs police officer was not justified, a former federal agent said Tuesday.

Philip Hayden, an expert on the use of force, also testified that a properly trained law enforcement officer would not have opened fire in the same situation.

Roy Oliver, 38, is on trial in Dallas County on a murder charge after shooting into a moving vehicle on April 29, 2017, and killing Edwards, 15, a passenger. The teen was unarmed and police didn’t find any weapons in his vehicle.

Edwards, his brothers and a couple of friends were leaving a house party in Balch Springs at around 11 p.m. that night about the time Oliver and his partner arrived to break up the party. As the teens were trying to leave, someone unrelated to the party fired 12 shots in the area.

The car Edwards was seated in was between the officers and a nearby nursing home where the shots rang out. The officers tried to stop the driver, but Oliver said he shot into the car five times because it was moving to run over his partner, Officer Tyler Gross.

But video footage taken from the officers’ body cameras shows the car was backing away from Gross.

Hayden testified on Tuesday, during the fourth day of the trial.

He said if Oliver had looked at Gross, he would’ve seen that the car was not moving toward him. But instead, he looked forward at the car when he raised his rifle.

“He had plenty of time to see that Officer Gross was not in danger,” Hayden said.

He also questioned why Oliver brought up his rifle so quickly.

“When he raised that rifle, he decided to shoot,” he said.

Hayden also testified that it was against Balch Springs police regulations to fire at a moving vehicle. Oliver was fired soon after the shooting.

This story was originally published August 21, 2018 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Expert: Ex-Balch Springs officer not justified in killing teen Jordan Edwards."