Family of Jordan Edwards Wants Independent Prosecutor For Case and Systematic Change in Policing

Tuesday marks three days since the family of Jordan Edwards laid the 15-year-old to rest.

Edwards was known to have a big heart and a bright smile; his character and determination in school pointed toward a bright future.

Edwards was shot and killed by Roy Oliver, a Balch Springs police officer. Oliver now faces a murder charge for the deadly April 29 shooting.

Now, the nightmare of his sudden and tragic death has caused immeasurable grief for his family. Even still, in their loss, they are focused. They have organized a list objectives that they believe will aid in the pursuit of justice.

Their main goal is legislative and systematic change within police departments around the country. However, more specifically, the family is focused on five immediate objectives:

1. An indictment for murder on former Officer Roy Oliver
2. Assign a special independent prosecutor to the case
3. Release the names of other officers and prosecute said officers to the fullest extent of the law
4. Provide family and family's attorney with all video evidence of the case
5. Request a rigorous investigation of the Balch Springs Police Department by the Department of Justice

The family also filed a lawsuit citing Roy Oliver and the Chief of Police for the Balch Springs Police Department for both sharing a false narrative regarding the direction and motion of the vehicle before Oliver fired his weapon.

"The lawsuit also mentions other officers," said the family's attorney Lee Merritt. "There is another officer involved in the incident or nearby at the time of the shooting. Who we believed had covered up for Oliver immediately following the shooting," Merritt added.

According to the family's attorney, Roy Oliver's deadly force was the result of the department's broken and biased system.

"It's easy to scapegoat one officer as the bad apple," said Merritt. "We get a false sense of security when everything is blamed on one officer, but if we don’t look at the system that allowed this kind of thing to fester, if we don’t look at the system that went to work immediately to protect this officer from criminal liability, then we’ll see the same thing happen over and over again."

Community Rally, Efforts for Change

The family asked the community not to protest or rally until he was laid to rest, which was purposeful.  

"As you value a life, as you identify the person you are protesting for, it separates it from just a cause," Merritt said. "It separates it from the energy of the moment. It personalizes it, and for me, I really did take that time to learn about Jordan and to learn about how much hope he represented."

A march has been scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. People will gather in front of the Frank Crowley Courthouse in Dallas.