Roy Oliver must pay Jordan Edwards’ family more than $21.6 million, after a jury Monday found the former Balch Springs police officer used excessive and unreasonable force when he fatally shot the 15-year-old.
In a civil trial, the six-person federal jury — five men and one woman — decided Oliver was responsible for Jordan’s death in 2017 and that his actions violated the teen’s constitutional rights.
The jury awarded Jordan’s father, Odell Edwards, about $10.6 million — more than $8.5 million to Odell Edwards and $2.1 million to Jordan’s estate — in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, acknowledging that Oliver acted with reckless indifference when he shot into a moving car and killed Jordan, who was Black.
In the hallway, family members embraced, thanked the lawyers, and some cried after the verdict was announced.
“We’re just really glad a jury in Dallas County sent out a message loud and clear that killing young children will not be acceptable,” Daryl Washington, an attorney for the Edwards family, said outside the courthouse. Attorneys said they hope the judgment sends a strong message to police officers who violate the law. But they stressed this is not an indictment of all police.
Odell Edwards said the verdict “shows officers they can be held accountable.” He asked police to “think before you act.”
“This has not been about the money,” Washington said, “this has been about accountability.”
Oliver was called to the witness stand again Monday when the jury was tasked with deciding on punitive damages. He reiterated his previous testimony: He perceived that the teens, who were driving away from a busted house party, were a threat and he believes the shooting was justified.
Odell Edwards said Oliver’s testimony shows “the coward he is.”
Oliver’s attorney, William Krueger, declined to comment.
Oliver, who is white, fired his rifle five times at a car Jordan and four other teen boys were in as they left the party. The second shot struck Jordan in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
Oliver was convicted of murder by a Dallas County jury and sentenced to 15 years in prison. His 2018 conviction made him the first on-duty police officer in Texas to be found guilty of murder in 45 years.
The jury deliberated less than three hours total inside the downtown Dallas federal courthouse to decide both the compensatory and punitive damages. Oliver waived his right to be present when the verdict was read aloud.
Oliver, who was wearing a blue jacket and silver tie, blew a kiss through a surgical face mask to his wife, who was seated in the gallery, as he left the courtroom.
Fired at fleeing car
In closing arguments Monday, Odell Edwards’ lawyers argued neither Oliver nor his police partner, Tyler Gross, were in immediate danger when Oliver fired at the fleeing car that posed no threat. But Krueger, Oliver’s attorney, said the former officer was responding to a “rapidly evolving, very pressurized” situation. Krueger told jurors in closing statements that their verdict “will determine how police officers do their jobs.”
Oliver and Gross responded April 29, 2017, to a call about a noisy party and underage drinking at a house on Baron Drive. Jordan’s brothers and two other young men testified last week there were no drugs or alcohol at the party.
While the officers were in the Balch Springs home, they heard a flurry of gunfire outside. The shots were later determined to have come from the parking lot of a nearby nursing home.
Oliver, a six-year veteran of the force, grabbed his rifle from his patrol car as Jordan, his two brothers and two friends got in a car near the house to leave.
Their car, a black Impala, went in reverse down Baron Drive and onto intersecting Shepherd Lane, while Gross shouted at them to stop, according to testimony and body-worn camera video. Gross then approached the car and smashed a rear window, which Oliver said he thought was “some sort of violence,” like a gunshot. Oliver also testified he saw Jordan make furtive movements in the passenger seat.
“I engaged it like I was trained to do,” Oliver said.
Nine seconds
Nine seconds elapsed between when Oliver started to charge the car and when he pulled the trigger, according to court testimony.
The Edwards family’s lawyers argued Monday that Oliver did not hear a gunshot or see Jordan move. According to testimony, Jordan told the other boys in the car to duck before the gunfire.
Oliver testified last week he believed the car was going to hit Gross — restating what he said on the witness stand at his criminal trial. Gross told the jury he did not believe the car was going to run him over, nor did he fear for his life. The teens who were in the car said they didn’t intend to hurt anyone. An onlooker said the Impala did not look like it would hit the officer.
Last week, on the witness stand, Oliver admitted he was “the one who pulled the trigger.” But Washington told jurors Oliver has not taken responsibility for killing Jordan in the nearly six years since his murder.
Oliver previously said in court filings he shouldn’t be sued because of qualified immunity, a controversial legal principle that shields government employees from litigation while at their jobs. A panel of federal appellate judges disagreed.
The police department fired Oliver three days after the shooting. Oliver, who has served nearly five years in prison, will soon be eligible for parole, lawyers said.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas- at the bottom.
