Global Courant
A judge has dismissed the case against a former Philadelphia police officer charged with murder in connection with the death of Eddie Irizarry, the Philadelphia ABC station reported. WPVI.
Mark Dial was charged earlier this month with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and official oppression in the Aug. 14 shooting.
Judge Wendy Pew dismissed the case during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday due to lack of evidence, WPVI reported.
Police originally said 27-year-old Irizarry was standing outside the car and was killed after lunging at police with a knife, but two days later police acknowledged he had been shot while sitting in his car.
In announcing the charges, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner released body-worn camera footage of Dial and a second officer who was at the scene, warning that the video “will be traumatic in some respects.”
The footage shows Dial getting out of his cruiser and approaching Irizarry’s car with his gun drawn. “I will shoot you,” he says, before shooting into the front driver’s seat where Irizarry was sitting. Before shots are fired, an officer can be heard yelling at Irizarry to show his hands.
Dial fired six shots “at close range,” Krasner said.
Brian McMonagle, one of Dial’s attorneys, called the murder charge “abhorrent.”
“The undisputed facts of the case are that an individual made an illegal right turn in the presence of police officers, fled the scene at a high rate of speed, and then attempted to elude the officers by turning the wrong way down a one-way street. to hide from them,” McMonagle told reporters earlier this month.
“And when police officers ordered him to show his hands, he instead pulled out a gun and pointed it at an armed police officer,” he continued.
The city’s then-police chief, Danielle Outlaw, said on August 23 that Dial would be terminated after a 30-day suspension.
Outlaw, who has since left the department, said at the time that an administrative investigation found Dial violated department rules against “insubordination” by allegedly refusing to obey “proper orders of a superior officer.” She said the administrative investigation also accuses Dial of “conduct unbecoming an officer” for “failing to cooperate with any departmental investigation.”
This is a development story. Check back later for updates.
