US Shootings – In what seems to be a victory for human rights groups like the Black Lives Matter movement, a former white Police officer in the State of Texas, Roy Oliver has been found guilty of murder for shooting and killing an unarmed black teenager in April 2017.
The boy was shot and killed by the police officer as he left a house party in company of a group of teenagers. The Police Officer had been fired from the Balch Springs Police Department days after the shooting.
The Black teenager identified as 15-year-old Jordan Edwards was killed when Roy Oliver fired into a moving vehicle which contained five African-American teenagers leaving a house party.
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The Shot hit the deceased who sat in the front passenger seat, resulting in his death.
The US Police officer had testified during the trial that he shot at the vehicle after seeing it move towards his partner. According to him, he thought his partner was in mortal danger at the time.
His partner however testified to jurors that he didn’t fear for his life and never felt the need to fire his weapon.
The killing led to an emotional National discourse on relations between race and law enforcement in America.
Prior to the case, experts had suggested that it would be an uphill task to secure a conviction against a law enforcement officer because criminal culpability in on-duty shootings is subjective and jurors are more inclined to believe police testimony.
In their closing arguments, the defense for the former police officer told jury they needed to review the case from Oliver’s point of view and the knowledge available to the former officer at the time of the shooting.
Prosecutors however described Oliver as out of control and looking for a reason to kill arguing that his firing into the car wasn’t reasonable.
Prior to the shooting, Oliver alongside his partner, Tyler Gross, had been called to break up a large house party following a report of underage drinking.
While both officers were inside the residence they heard gunfire outside and quickly responded even though Authorities later determined the shots were fired near a nursing home in the area. Oliver then retrieved his weapon and went toward Gross, who was ordering the car carrying Edwards to stop.
While testifying in his own defense, Oliver told the court that he saw the car back up and stop for a second before moving forward and going toward Gross. He said the car was about to hit his partner and he felt he had no choice but to fire his weapon at the vehicle.
His partner however, testified that he did not fear for his life and never felt the need to fire his weapon as it didn’t look like the vehicle was trying to hit him.