It seems that, at least this time, justice has a chance at being served in the killing of a young black man. CNN and other news outlets are announcing this morning that former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting of Jordan Edwards. You can read the story on the arrest at CNN’s website.
Let’s all hope that this will be an actual instance of an out of control officer being held accountable for his deadly actions. The statements from Dallas-area authorities seem to be showing a real commitment to prosecuting Oliver as rigorously as possible. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department issued this statement on the arrest:
"The warrant was issued due to evidence that suggested Mr. Oliver intended to cause serious bodily injury and commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death of an individual," said Melinda Urbina, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
This prompt an arrest of a former officer implies that the prosecutors are on board with the murder charge and that they intend to convict Oliver. Let’s hope that the patterns that we’ve seen in other trials (the murder of Walter Scott, for instance) won’t be repeated in this case. With a victim of such unimpeachable character as Jordan Edwards, it should be a slam dunk for a conviction, but we all know how the trials of officers accused of murder tend to go, even when (as in this case) they have been cut loose by their departments and other officers are not standing with them. Let’s hope that this time, we will see a jury do the right thing and send Roy Oliver to jail for the heinous crime that he has committed.