DALLAS (AP)
— A white Texas police officer faces a murder charge in the shooting of a black
teenager after being fired earlier in the week, authorities said.
Roy Oliver
turned himself in Friday night, just hours after the Dallas County Sheriff's
Office issued a warrant for his arrest in the April 29 death of 15-year-old
Jordan Edwards. Oliver, a former officer in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs,
was later released after posting bail at the Parker County Jail in Weatherford,
about 95 miles west of Dallas. His bond had been set at $300,000.
The
sheriff's office said in a statement the warrant was issued based on evidence
that suggested Oliver "intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit
an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death."
Oliver fired
a rifle at a car full of teenagers leaving a party, fatally shooting Edwards
who was a passenger in the vehicle. The teen's death led to protests calling
for Oliver to be fired and charged. On Tuesday, the same day that the officer
was fired, news broke of the Justice Department's decision not to charge two
white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the shooting death of a
black man in 2016. And a white officer in North Charleston, South Carolina,
pleaded guilty that day to federal civil rights charges in the fatal shooting
of a black man in 2015.
Edwards and
his two brothers and two other teenagers were leaving an unruly house party in
Balch Springs when Oliver opened fire on their car with a rifle. The bullets
shattered the front passenger-side window and struck Edwards. It took a few
moments for Edwards' 16-year-old brother, who was driving, and other passengers
to notice that he was slumped over in his seat.
Police had
said the teenagers' car was backing up toward officers "in an aggressive
manner," but later said body camera video showed the vehicle actually
driving away from the officers.
The
investigation into the shooting "will continue and does not conclude with
the arrest," sheriff's spokeswoman Melinda Urbina said.
Attorneys
for Oliver and the family of Edwards didn't respond to requests for comment.
Oliver's
firing Tuesday was for violating department policies in the shooting.
Records show
that Oliver was briefly suspended in 2013 following a complaint about his
conduct while serving as a witness in a drunken-driving case.
Personnel
records from the Balch Springs Police Department obtained by The Associated
Press show Oliver was suspended for 16 hours in December 2013 after the Dallas
County District Attorney's Office filed the complaint. Oliver also was ordered
to take training courses in anger management and courtroom demeanor and
testimony.
The
personnel records also included periodic evaluations that noted at least one
instance when Oliver was reprimanded for being "disrespectful to a
civilian on a call." That evaluation, dated Jan. 27, 2017, called the
reprimand an isolated incident and urged Oliver to be mindful of his leadership
role in the department.
The
complaint from the prosecutor's office said the office had a hard time getting
Oliver to attend the trial, he was angry he had to be there, he used vulgar
language that caused an assistant district attorney to send a female intern out
of the room, and he used profanity during his testimony.
"In an
email from one of the prosecutors he states you were a 'scary person to have in
our workroom,'" then-Balch Springs Police Chief Ed Morris wrote in the
suspension findings.
Oliver
joined the Balch Springs department in 2011 after being an officer with the
Dalworthington Gardens Police Department for almost a year. A statement from
Dalworthington Gardens officials on Wednesday included details of that and
previous intermittent employment as a dispatcher and public works employee
between 1999 and 2004.
He received
an award for "meritorious conduct" as a dispatcher and there were no
documented complaints or disciplinary action in either his work as a public
safety officer or dispatcher, according to the statement. Between his
employment as a dispatcher and officer in the Dallas suburb, Oliver was in the
U.S. Army, rising to the rank of sergeant while serving two tours in Iraq and
earning various commendations. He served for two years in the Texas National
Guard reserves through 2012.
After the
Dallas County Attorney's Office complained about Oliver's behavior, Morris
suspended the officer for 16 hours, which Oliver completed by forfeiting two
sick days.
___
Weissert
reported from Austin. Associated Press writers Terry Wallace, Paul J. Weber in
Austin and Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.
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