A former Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed motorist Eddie Irizarry while he sat in his car has been charged with murder.
Mark Dial, 27, surrendered Friday and was indicted on charges including voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and simple assault over the Aug. 14 shooting of Irizarry in the suburb of Kensington.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, at the request of Irizarry’s family, released unedited bodycam footage of the “extremely violent” fatal shooting, which showed Mr. Dial firing six shots through his window.
Irizarry was unresponsive as he was pulled from the driver’s seat by an officer and placed in the back of a patrol car, the videos showed.
“This body-worn camera footage will be entered into the evidence, most likely at both the preliminary hearing and a trial,” Krasner said at a news conference.
“They are crucial evidence in the case and in many ways they speak for themselves.”
Mr. Dial’s bail was set at $500,000 at his arraignment Friday afternoon. He has not entered a plea.
“We intend to vigorously defend him against the charges,” Mr. Dial’s attorney, Fortunato Perri, said in a statement to NBC Philadelphia.
“Despite what has been told to the media, the facts will show unequivocally that Officer Mark Dial was legally justified in firing his weapon while fearing for his life.”
Mr Dial and his partner initially claimed Irizarry, 27, lunged at him with a knife after pulling him over for erratic driving.
The officer changed his story after his bodycam and Ring camera footage contradicted his story.
The footage showed Mr Dial approaching Irizarry’s vehicle with his gun drawn as he sat in the driver’s seat.
In the footage released on Friday, Mr Dial shouts: “I will shoot you!” moments before he opens fire through the car window, hitting Irizarry several times.
He orders the fatally wounded Philadelphia man to “put your hands up now.”
After placing him in the patrol car, Mr. Dial drives Irizarry to Temple University Hospital.
The bodycam footage shows a doctor asking the police officer if Irizarry was breathing or showing any signs of life.
“Hardly,” Mr. Dial replies. Irizarry was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Irizarry was observed “holding a small, open pocket knife against his thigh,” prosecutors said. “Then he rolled up the driver’s side window.”
“I don’t think we are stating anything more than the obvious when we say that firing six consecutive (shots) at close range into a vital part of a person’s body is, under the law, strong support, along with other evidence. of all these allegations,” Mr. Krasner said.
Mr. Dial was fired by the Philadelphia Police Department last month.
