Ex-cop charged with murder: Video shows officer rushed to car, quickly shot through window
A former Philadelphia police officer who fatally shot a 27-year-old driver last month will face murder and other criminal charges, the city's district attorney announced Friday.
Former Officer Mark Dial turned himself in Friday morning and faces charges including murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangering of another person and official oppression in connection with the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry on Aug. 14, District Attorney Larry Krasner announced at a news conference Friday. Court officials set Dial’s bail at $500,000 during a brief hearing Friday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Dial, who has been on the force for five years, was suspended with intent to dismiss last month, not for killing Irizarry but for violating department policy related to the refusal to obey orders from a superior officer and failure to cooperate in any departmental investigation, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw previously said. Dial's suspension came after Outlaw told reporters police's initial description of the shooting was wrong and attorneys for Irizarry's family released surveillance video of the deadly encounter contradicting that initial account.
Mayor Jim Kenney warned that body camera footage of the shooting released Friday "contains graphic and violent images and may be distressing for some to watch."
“I have watched the footage and I understand that it may provoke anger and upset in our communities," Kenney said in a statement. "We ask that the public remain peaceful in demonstrations and calls for accountability as we continue to process this tragedy as a city."
What does the body camera footage show?
Krasner released body camera footage Friday, which showed Dial and another officer driving in a police SUV and then approaching Irizarry's sedan on foot.
Within seconds, Dial tells Irizarry he will shoot him and then fires his weapon through the driver’s side window six times.
Police did not report finding a gun in Irizarry's vehicle, but have said a kitchen-style knife and a serrated folding knife were found inside his car. Outlaw previously said the officer who approached on the passenger side attempted to open the door and then alerted the officer on the driver's side (Dial) that the man inside had a weapon.
After the shooting, an officer can be heard calling in shots fired.
The officers later open the car doors and one tells Irizarry, who is slumped over and bleeding, to keep his hands up before they pull Irizarry out of his car and place him into the police vehicle. The footage provides a different view of the shooting and the aftermath, including footage that appears to be from the hospital, than surveillance video released by Irizarry family attorney Shaka Johnson.
The videos, which Krasner called "crucial evidence," were taken from Dial’s body-worn camera and the camera of another officer on the scene. Krasner said the other officer is not being charged and declined to identify him Friday.
Krasner said the family viewed the footage and requested that it be released unredacted in its entirety.
Video contradicts original police narrative
Police initially said Irizarry got out of his car after a brief car chase with a knife and lunged at officers prior to the fatal shooting. Two days later, Outlaw said body camera footage "made it very clear what we initially reported was not actually what happened.”
Johnson, who also represented the family of Philadelphia police shooting victim Walter Wallace Jr., said he and the Irizarry family believe "there was an intentional misleading of the public."
"What about what you just saw could ever be confused as he got out of the car and lunged at police officers?" Johnson asked at a news conference last month. "Not a single thing. That was an out-and-out, flat-out lie."
Outlaw said in a statement Friday the department's administrative investigation is still ongoing. She previously said Dial may face additional disciplinary charges if he violated additional department policies.
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Family calls for strict sentence, defense says shooting was justified
Dial’s attorney, Fortunato N. Perri Jr., told the Associated Press the shooting was justified.
“Despite what has been portrayed to the media, the facts will unmistakably show that Officer Mark Dial was legally justified in discharging his weapon while fearing for his life,” Perri said in an email to the outlet.
Eddie Irizarry, Irizarry’s father, told the Philadelphia Inquirer he was relieved Dial was charged with murder and that the body-worn camera footage had been released. Irizarry’s father told the outlet he hoped Dial would face a severe sentence.
“Let’s put it this way: you took a life, so you’re going to pay with a life, too. You’re going to be in prison for a long time. Because this shouldn’t happen again,” he said Friday.
Contributing: The Associated Press