Philadelphia officer to be fired for insubordination amid investigation into fatal shooting
Officer Mark Dial shot and killed Eddie Irizarry back on August 14 in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a man in the city's Kensington section last week will be fired, officials announced during a press conference on Wednesday.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw says Officer Mark Dial will be suspended for 30 days with the intent to dismiss following the deadly August 14 shooting of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry.
Outlaw says this was in direct action due to several departmental violations by Dial, including refusal to properly obey proper orders from a superior officer, and failure to cooperate in any departmental investigation.
"I want to make it clear that the investigation into the shooting itself continues along with the administrative investigation, in which there may be additional disciplinary charges in the event that Officer Dial violated additional PPD policies. The police department takes accuracy and transparency and incident reporting very seriously," said Outlaw on Wednesday.
Irizarry's family released a video on Tuesday of moments leading up to the fatal gunfire on the 100 block of Willard Street.
Police said last week this all began when Irizarry was seen driving erratically near B and Erie streets.
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The officers followed the vehicle, a Toyota, as it turned on Westmoreland Street, then left onto Lee Street, and finally left onto Willard Street.
Officials say at that point, the Toyota continued the wrong way down East Willard Street, which is one-way.
The video begins showing Irizarry pulling his vehicle over on East Willard Street.
He stops for a moment, then briefly backs up. His car stops again and remains stopped as a Philadelphia police SUV arrives and pulls up alongside him.
The police vehicle does not appear to have its flashing lights on. No siren can be heard in the video.
Two officers get out of the SUV, both with guns drawn, and one shouts "Show me your hands" and "He's got a f------ knife."
Shouts of "Don't move" and "I'll f------ shoot you" are heard just as Dial runs up to Irizarry's closed car window.
Dial then fires five shots at point-blank range, then runs past the front of the car while firing a sixth time.
An officer then can be heard making a "shots fired" call.
On the day of the shooting, police officials said Irizarry was outside the car when he was killed after lunging at police with a knife. Two days later, the department acknowledged Irizarry was fatally shot while inside his car.
A criminal investigation is being conducted by the district attorney's office. As the internal investigation continues, police are working to track down where their initial narrative came from.
"We believe it came from an internal source," said Outlaw during the press conference.
Police said two knives were recovered inside the vehicle. Police have not said if either knife was in Irizarry's hand when he was fatally shot.
Video of the shooting was released Tuesday during a news conference with Irizarry's family and attorney Shaka Johnson.
"What about what you just saw could ever be confused as he got out of the car and lunged at police officers?" said Johnson.
Johnson said the family will be filing a wrongful death lawsuit against both the City of Philadelphia and Dial.
"This officer really took someone very special to us and I just want him to pay for what he did," said Irizarry's aunt, Zoraida Garcia.
Johnson argues the damage to his client's loved one's reputation is done.
"There was an intentional misleading of the public," he said.
The Citizens Police Oversight Commission, which investigates the conduct, policies, and practices of the Philadelphia Police Department, had called for the officer to be fired.
Just hours after Outlaw's announcement was made, the Citizen's Police Oversight Commission held a virtual public meeting promising transparency.
"We intend to do an after-action investigation to draw our own conclusions on how this occurred and how to prevent it from occurring in the future," said Anthony Erace, the interim executive director of the commission.
"We wanted to make sure that the public knew that we were involved and that we had taken a stand," he added. "We came to the conclusion that we would call for Officer Dial to be fired. It was not an easy decision to come to, but in our evaluation of the evidence it spoke for itself."
Officer Dial was a five-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department and was assigned to the 24th District.
His attorney told Action News that Officer Dial has the full support of the Fraternal Order of Police as they continue to review the facts.
Irizarry's family is calling for the body-worn camera footage to be released to the public.
"He's schizophrenic at that. That's all in the paperwork. He was reaching for his wallet when the officer shot him. Not once or twice, but five or six times," said Garcia.
Action News asked Garcia about the knife police said Irizarry had in his possession. She said it was common for him to have one.
"He always did carry a little pocket knife, but it's not nothing big," said Garcia.
She also said he didn't understand English very well.
Dial's partner did cooperate with the shooting investigation. He has been placed on administrative duty. He is working for the force but not patrolling the streets.
