Before Jordan Edwards, 8 Times Police Videos Showed the Real Story

At first, the story went, police fatally shot 15-year-old Jordan Edwards after the car he rode in aggressively backed toward Balch Springs officers.But a day later, after watching police body-camera footage that has not been released to the public, Chief Jonathan Haber said the car was actually driving away from the cops when Officer Roy Oliver shot his rifle into the car of teenagers, striking Jordan in the head.Oliver, 37, was arrested Friday on a murder charge and faces up to life in prison if convicted. With Jordan's death, the police and the community both would have been better off if the cops hadn't given in to public pressure for fast answers, said Alex Piquero, a criminal justice professor at the University of Texas at Dallas who studies police use of force."People want information as quick as possible. But sometimes speed is the enemy of correctness," Piquero said. A change to the story "adds a cloud to the process." Police should have watched the video before telling Oliver's side of the story, Piquero said.Haber, who fired Oliver on Tuesday for violating unnamed department policies, said that is exactly what he should have done. The department first got body cams in December 2014, something that Haber pushed for.That's "my inability to get all the facts like I should have," Haber said. "That was solely on me. In a rush to get the information out, to be transparent ... I missed a step."The Balch Springs video has not yet been released. But here are eight other videos that shaped perspectives on police investigations. Warning: these videos include graphic images and language.   Continue reading...