Judge dismisses murder charge against Philadelphia officer in fatal shooting

After body camera footage showed officer fatally shooting Irizarry six times at near-point-blank range, he was charged with first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, etc.

A judge on Tuesday dismissed all charges against a Philadelphia police officer who fatally shot a 27-year-old man who was sitting in his parked car last month, ruling that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence.

Municipal Judge Wendy L. Pew agreed with lawyers for the officer, Mark Dial, who had argued that he was acting in self-defense when he killed Eddie Irizarry on August 14, believing that Irizarry was taking out a weapon. Dial was suspended from the force with intent to dismiss.

After body camera footage showed Dial, 27, fatally shooting Irizarry six times at near-point-blank range, according to prosecutors, he was charged with first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, possession of an instrument of crime, reckless endangerment of another person and official oppression.

Defense lawyers had argued that Dial’s partner yelled “gun” before the officer opened fire on Irizarry.

The district attorney’s office in Philadelphia immediately appealed the decision, and a hearing in the Court of Common Pleas was set for Oct. 25.

“In keeping with our oath to seek justice, we will move to have all criminal charges, including murder, reinstated against this defendant,” a statement said.

Irizarry’s relatives expressed outrage after the ruling, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“The officers can go out here and kill a person that’s not doing anything and get away with murder, because this is what it was,” said Zoraida Garcia, Irizarry’s aunt.

The officer fatally shot Irizarry after what police initially said was a car chase that ended in Irizarry lunging at Dial with a knife. But two days later, police officials changed that account, and said that body camera footage showed that the man, later identified as Irizarry, was still in his car when the officer shot him.

Dial and his partner were sitting in a marked police car when they saw a Toyota Corolla that they said was driving erratically in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The officers followed the car the wrong way down a one-way street, where it pulled over into a parking spot.

The footage showed Dial racing out of the passenger seat of the police car and, within seconds, forcefully telling Irizarry that he “will shoot” him and quickly firing his gun multiple times through the driver’s seat window.

Irizarry was declared dead at a hospital later that day.