Texas police officer charged with murder in black teen’s killing

WASHINGTON: A Texas police officer who fired into a car full of teenagers, allegedly killing a 15-year-old African American boy, turned himself in on Friday after being charged with murder, authorities said.

Roy Oliver, 37, who is white, was one of two police officers responding to a call about an unruly party in the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs on April 29, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Jordan Edwards and four others were leaving the party in their car after hearing gunfire. Oliver fired a rifle into the car, hitting the boy in the head, media reports said.

Oliver, who has reportedly been fired from the Balch Springs Police Department, turned himself in and was booked on a murder charge at the Parker County jail in Weatherford, about 97 km west of Dallas, according to county records.

He was released after posting a $300,000 bond, the records showed.

Police originally said Oliver opened fire because the car was backing up aggressively toward him, but the department changed its account after viewing body-cam footage, saying the car was driving away when Edwards was shot.

Evidence suggested the police officer “intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death,” the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement announcing the arrest warrant.

The shooting is the latest killing of an African-American by a white police officer in a string of similar cases that have fueled outrage across the US and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The investigation into the shooting “will continue and does not conclude with the arrest,” said a police officer.

Attorneys for Oliver and the family of Edwards did not respond to requests for comment.

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.

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.