Thursday, May 04, 2017

FORWARD, BACKWARD, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

by Bob Walsh

Roy Oliver used to be a cop in Balch Springs, Texas. He is now an unemployed former cop and may be looking at being a guest of the state depending on how things shake out.

Oliver responded to a loud house party call, allegedly a bunch on unsupervised and maybe intoxicated teenagers, on Saturday night. The situation went sideways in a hurry and Officer Oliver fired on a car that was allegedly backing at him in an aggressive manner. Trouble is, the car was actually leaving. Jordan Edwards, 15, died as a result of the shots fired. This difference soon became apparent based on body cam footage. The vehicle was backing up, but it was backing up AWAY from the officer, not towards him.

Texas must not have a lot of procedural rights for peace officers as Officer Oliver has already been separated from the department, though he does have appeal rights. None of the occupants of the car was armed (probably the only car in Texas with no gun in it that night) nor is there any suggestion that shots were fired at the officer or anywhere in the general vicinity of the incident.

The dead kids family is expressly asking that there be NO protests of any kind and are not making a condemnation of the police in general.

I strongly suspect that former officer Roy Oliver is going to be in deep doodoo on this one. Deservedly so (based on limited available evidence.)

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