So, let's talk about the death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards in Texas, his life snuffed out by a cop because Edwards was a black boy in the passenger seat of a car. This was his crime, and for this he was summarily executed by police in the town of Balch Springs near Dallas.
The police chief in Balch Springs admitted Monday that a car full of teens was driving away from police when an officer armed with a rifle fatally shot a 15-year-old boy in the head.
After reviewing body-cam footage, Police Chief Jonathan Haber reversed his initial account about Saturday's deadly confrontation, saying the teen behind the wheel Saturday night at first backed down the street but was fleeing the scene when the officer opened fire.
"It did not meet our core values," Haber said of his officer's actions.
Haber had initially said the car was driving backward when Jordan Edwards was shot. The officers had been inside a house where they found a large party. They ran outside after hearing gunshots around 11 p.m. Saturday in the 12300 block of Baron Drive.
Jordan, a freshman at Mesquite High School, was leaving the party over the weekend when the officer shot him through the passenger's side window.
The medical examiner's office said Jordan was killed with a rifle and also ruled his death a homicide, though that doesn't necessarily mean charges will be filed.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's public-integrity unit are investigating the shooting.
The medical examiner's office said Jordan was killed with a rifle and also ruled his death a homicide, though that doesn't necessarily mean charges will be filed.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's public-integrity unit are investigating the shooting.
Attorney Lee Merritt, who represents Jordan's family, said Jordan and four other teens heard gunshots and decided to get in a car and leave the party. He said the teens heard someone cursing and then three shots were fired into the car.
The officer, who has not been named, has been placed on administrative leave. No officers were injured.
Tuesday the family of Jordan Edwards responded.
In their first statement following Jordan Edwards' death, the 15-year-old's family called him a "loving child with a humble and sharing spirit."
The statement also said he had an indescribably strong bond with his family, especially his siblings. The family said his brothers witnessed Jordan's death.
"Not only have Jordan's brothers lost their best friend; they witnessed firsthand his violent, senseless, murder," the statement reads. "Their young lives will forever be altered. No one, let alone young children, should witness such horrific, unexplainable, violence."
The family asked the public to refrain from protests and marches in Jordan's name as they prepare for his funeral. "We do not support nor do we condone any violence or threats made against the Balch Springs Police Department or any other law enforcement agencies."
"What we desire only second to having our beloved Jordan back, is JUSTICE FOR JORDAN," the statement reads.
Jordan Edwards wasn't a thug or a criminal. He was a straight-A student and a football star as a freshman with his entire life ahead of him. That life was taken carelessly and stupidly by police. Meanwhile the Jeff Sessions Department of Justice is refusing to press any charges against the Baton Rouge cops who killed Alton Sterling last July. Sterling was black. The cops killed him. Case closed in Trump's America. They're always righteous shoots when somebody who looks like me dies to police bullets.
There is one piece of good news on this front: the officer that shot Walter Scott in North Charleston, SC in 2015, the murder caught on video, will plead to a single federal charge after last December's deadlocked trial. The officer, Michael Slager, faces up to life in prison.
Black lives matter.
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