Stepbrother describes moments leading to Balch Springs teen’s killing

Sitting in the back of a police cruiser after his stepbrother was shot in the head by a police officer, Vidal Allen prayed.

He asked the officer who sat up front to pray with him. And he did.

Testifying in Dallas County District Court on Thursday afternoon, Allen, 18, couldn’t remember exactly what he said in that prayer.

“I just prayed that my brother would be OK,” he said. “I asked God to take care of him.”

But his brother, 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, died in the passenger seat of their dad’s 2004 Impala on April 29, 2017.

The man accused of killing Edwards, ex-Balch Springs police Officer Roy Oliver, is on trial this week on murder charges.

Oliver fired five shots into the Impala occupied by Edwards, Allen and three friends after responding to a residence on Baron Drive in Balch Springs at around 11 p.m. to break up a large party of high school students.

The string of events unfolded while Oliver and his partner, Tyler Gross, were inside the house and 12 shots were fired from a nearby nursing home.

The officers ran outside and were soon near the car that Allen was trying to drive away from the scene. His brother, Edwards, sat in the passenger seat.

Oliver said after the shooting that he fired into the car because it was backing up toward the officers and that he feared for their lives.

Body camera footage and testimony Thursday, however, show the car was not headed toward the officers but was moving away from them.

Allen was the first person to testify on Thursday who was in the car when the shooting happened.

Defense attorney Bob Gill asked several times why he didn’t stop the car when Gross shouted at them. Video footage shown earlier in the trial showed Gross shouted, “Stop the f***ing car.”

“We don’t know who said that,” Allen replied. “Police don’t talk like that. The profanity. Police don’t say that, sir, especially not to kids.”

Allen said he didn’t see either officer when he was backing up and didn’t try to hit anyone.

When Allen heard the five gunshots, he said he drove away and checked to see if his friends and brother were OK. But he saw blood, and had to move Edwards’ head, he said.

As he continued to drive away, a police car drove quickly passed them, and Allen turned around to get help from that officer, he testified.

When both cars stopped, the officer made Allen and the three other boys in the car get out with their hands up.

“They made me walk backwards … they put me in handcuffs and put me in the car,” he said.

That’s when he prayed.

The trial continues Friday. Watch the proceedings live at lawandcrime.com.

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 5:39 PM with the headline "Stepbrother describes moments leading to Balch Springs teen’s killing."