Bennie Edwards

Bennie Edwards, 60, a homeless flower seller known locally in his neighborhood and diagnosed with mental illness, was shot three times in the back by Oklahoma City Police Sergeant Clifford Holman on December 11, 2020, as he ran away following a confrontation outside a business. Officers had responded to a report that Edwards was bothering customers; police said he held a knife and refused commands to drop it before being Tased and pepper-sprayed, then briefly moved toward an officer before turning to flee, at which point Holman fired. Then-District Attorney David Prater charged Holman with first-degree manslaughter in February 2021, a rare criminal charge against an Oklahoma officer. The original investigating detective later retracted his own sworn affidavit statement, saying he no longer believed the shooting had been unnecessary. In July 2023, a newly elected district attorney dismissed the charge entirely, citing an outside use-of-force expert's review. No one has ever been convicted in Edwards's death.

Oklahoma City, OK · Oklahoma County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The confrontation, the Taser and pepper spray deployment, and the shooting, per a police affidavit, bystander video that circulated publicly, and the Oklahoma County District Attorney's charging and later dismissal statements.
• Officers responding to a report of Edwards bothering customers at a north Oklahoma City business found him holding a knife; after he refused to drop it, they used a Taser and pepper spray, which had little effect.
• Bystander video showed Edwards briefly moving toward officers before turning and running away through the parking lot; Sergeant Clifford Holman fired three shots, striking Edwards in the upper back and killing him at the scene.
• An autopsy determined Edwards's death was caused by multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
• Then-District Attorney David Prater charged Holman with first-degree manslaughter in February 2021, stating Holman's shots were fired “unnecessarily” and “without justifiable cause” as Edwards ran away; a second officer at the scene, Keith Duroy, was not charged.
• OKC Police Detective Bryn Carter, who had investigated the shooting and sworn the original affidavit supporting the charge, later told the district attorney's office he could no longer stand by his own statement that Holman's shot had been unnecessary.
• In July 2023, newly elected District Attorney Vicki Behenna dismissed the manslaughter charge against Holman, along with charges against six other Oklahoma City-area officers in two unrelated fatal shootings, after her office hired an out-of-state use-of-force expert to review each case.
• Edwards's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the two officers; the City of Oklahoma City settled the suit for $1.05 million in 2024.

• Whether Edwards's turn to flee, after Tasing and pepper spray had already failed to subdue him, justified deadly force as he ran away was directly disputed even within the district attorney's own office — the original investigating detective retracted his sworn statement that the shooting was unnecessary — and was never resolved by any criminal trial, since the charge was dismissed before one occurred.
• The specific findings and reasoning of the out-of-state use-of-force expert whose review led to the charge's dismissal have not been made comprehensively public.
• Why the original investigating detective changed his sworn assessment of the shooting has not been fully explained in available public reporting.

• ABC News — “Manslaughter charges dropped against 7 Oklahoma police officers”
• KGOU — “Oklahoma County DA dismisses criminal charges of 7 police officers who shot and killed three people”
• NonDoc — “Legal roundup: Teacher impersonator pleads, OKC settles Bennie Edwards lawsuit, recusal rules amended”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs