DALLAS (AP) — A white former police officer has been convicted of murder in Texas for fatally shooting a black, unarmed teenager while on duty. The 2017 shooting launched the Dallas suburb of Balch Springs into a national conversation on issues of law enforcement and race.
Defendant Roy Oliver, right, a fired Balch Springs police officer charged with the murder of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards, and his defense attorney Bob Gill speak after seeing a question from the jury indicating they can’t reach a unanimous verdict during a trial of Oliver at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. Oliver was convicted of murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager when he fired into a car full of teenagers leaving a house party in suburban Dallas. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)
Here are details about that case and others in recent years in which charges were filed in police shootings of black people:
— Dallas: Roy Oliver was convicted of murder Tuesday in the 2017 death of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. Oliver, a Balch Springs police officer at the time, fired into a car packed with black teenagers who were leaving a house party in the Dallas suburb. The gunfire killed Edwards. Oliver said he thought his partner was in danger as the car drove by. But his partner told jurors he didn’t fear for his life.
— East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Officer Michael Rosfeld was charged in the June 19 shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr. after the teen fled from a traffic stop. He is scheduled to be in court for a pretrial hearing Sept. 11.
— Chicago: Jason Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder in the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. The white officer shot the black teenager 16 times. His trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5. The shooting made international headlines when a judge forced the city to release a dashcam video of the shooting. The video sparked massive protests, cost the Chicago police superintendent his job, and promoted federal and local investigations.
— North Charleston, South Carolina: After killing 50-year-old Walter Scott in 2015, Officer Michael Slager pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2017. He later appealed.
— Chicago: Officer Marco Proano was sentenced to five years in prison for using excessive force after shooting at a stolen car in 2013, injuring two black teenagers.
— Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing was tried twice for murder after killing Samuel DuBose, whom he pulled over for driving without a front license plate in 2015. The jury was hung both times, and the charges were dismissed. Tensing received $350,000 from the University of Cincinnati when he agreed to resign.
— Milwaukee: Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was acquitted in June 2017 of first-degree reckless homicide after shooting 23-year-old Sylville Smith during a foot chase in August 2016.
— Falcon Heights, Minnesota: Officer Jeronimo Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and other counts after shooting 32-year-old Philando Castile in 2016. He was acquitted on all charges in June 2017.
— Tulsa, Oklahoma: Officer Betty Shelby was acquitted of manslaughter after shooting a 40-year-old unarmed black man, Terence Crutcher, in September 2016. A neighboring sheriff’s office then announced Shelby, who resigned from the Tulsa Police Department, would join the squad.
— Miami: Prosecutors charged Officer Jonathan Aledda with four felonies and misdemeanors, including attempted manslaughter , after he shot unarmed behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey in July 2016. Kinsey was supervising a patient with autism who was holding a silver toy truck, which a bystander mistook for a gun.
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