News & Politics

Philadelphia judge dismisses all charges against police officer Mark Dial

A Philadelphia judge ruled Tuesday that prosecutors had not presented evidence that Dial had committed a crime when fatally shooting Eddie Irizarry in August

Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner

Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner Philadelphia Police Department; Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

A Philadelphia judge on Tuesday dismissed all charges against police officer Mark Dial, the officer who fatally shot Eddie Irizarry in August, stating that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to show the shooting was a crime. 

During a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Municipal Judge Wendy Pew cited a lack of evidence when dropping all charges against Dial. The defense had argued Dial was acting in self-defense when he fired his weapon, almost immediately after exiting his vehicle, through Irizarry’s rolled-up window during a traffic stop in Kensington on Aug. 14. 

Body camera footage from the incident shows Dial fatally shooting Irizzary about seven seconds after getting out of his police SUV, firing a total of six rounds. 

Defense lawyers called the shooting justified, noting that the footage also showed Irizarry was holding a knife near his right leg. Dial’s partner, police officer Michael Morris, testified at the preliminary hearing that they had been following Irizarry because he was driving erratically, and that he screamed to Dial that he saw Irizarry had a knife prior to shots being fired. 

Brian McMonagle, Dial’s defense attorney, urged Pew to drop all charges, which included manslaughter, official oppression and four other counts.

“He is firing while trying to take cover,” McMonagle said in court Tuesday, arguing that Dial feared for his life: “Every tragedy is not a crime.” 

The decision comes as police accountability advocates continue to call for greater transparency and repercussions for officers using excessive or deadly force when it’s unnecessary. 

While police officers in the courtroom expressed support for Dial following the decision, Irizarry’s relatives appeared stunned and said they would urge District Attorney Larry Krasner to appeal.

“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,” Zoraida Garcia, Irizarry’s aunt, said outside the courthouse Tuesday. 

Krasner’s office released a statement saying it disagrees with the ruling. 

“Special Investigations Unit prosecutors will be filing an appeal of this decision to the Court of Common Pleas by the end of today,” Krasner said in the statement. “In keeping our oath to seek justice, we will move to have all criminal charges, including murder, reinstated against this defendant.”

Dial’s arrest last month came following an investigation that found the initial police report did not match up with the events that occurred in the bodycam footage. Police said the day of the shooting that Irizzary had lunged at Dial with a knife, with footage later revealing Dial opened fire seconds after getting out of his vehicle while Irizarry remained seated in his car with the windows rolled up and a knife in his hand.

At-large Philadelphia City Councilmember Kendra Brooks applauded Krasner’s appeal and said Philadelphians and this case deserve a full trial. 

“When it comes to holding white police officers to account for the murders of people of color, our country has a long history of failure. Philadelphians have rightly called out for a public reckoning in the case of Eddie Irizarry’s tragic death, and that reckoning cannot be achieved without a full trial for the former officer who killed him,” Brooks said Tuesday. “By dismissing the charges against him, Municipal Court Judge Wendy Pew has denied Philadelphians the opportunity to fully understand the circumstances surrounding yet another death of a person of color at the hands of a white police officer.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.