All this week, Tyron Edwards will be sitting just a few yards away from the police officers who shot him in the back almost a decade ago when Edwards was 14.
The police officers, Ryan Murphy and Thomas Streckfuss, say that Edwards fired at them first. A gun was recovered at the scene of the shooting, which the officers say belonged to Edwards. But Edwards’ attorneys argue that neither the 14-year-old’s fingerprints nor his DNA were on the gun and the weapon itself was incapable of firing. They say the officers shot the teen unprovoked and concocted a story afterwards which led to Edwards being charged.
Edwards filed his lawsuit in 2021, alleging assault and excessive force. The lawsuit went from circuit court to federal court and then back to circuit court before winding up in front of a jury this week. Streckfuss and Murphy are represented by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which took over legal representation for the St. Louis police when the department returned to state control last year…