Odell Edwards and Charmaine Edwards, parents of Jordan Edwards, react to a guilty of murder verdict during a trial of fired Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver, who was charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)
DALLAS (AP) – The head of Dallas’ oldest and largest police employee organization said Thursday that good officers want bad ones off the streets and that a former suburban officer convicted in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager was held accountable.
Roy Oliver, who is white, fired into a car filled with black teens leaving a suburban Dallas house party in April 2017, killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. A jury convicted Oliver of murder Tuesday and sentenced him to 15 years in prison Wednesday night.
Sgt. Michael Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, said due process was followed in the murder trial. He said a large percentage of officers thought Oliver had committed a crime, but that there was debate over whether it was manslaughter or murder.
“What was accomplished this week was accountability,” Mata said.
Members of Edwards’ family said the ex-officer’s punishment was too lenient.