American racist cop Mark Dial of Philadelphia charged with murder for fatally shooting Hispanic man Eddie Irizarry at point blank.

By Edward Era Barbacena 

The Philadelphia Police officer who fatally shot Eddie Irizarry last month at near point-blank range through Irizarry’s car window surrendered to police this morning to face murder charges, his attorneys said.

Mark Dial turned himself in at a South Philadelphia police station Friday morning, alongside his attorneys and leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5. Dial said nothing, staring ahead as he walked through the station doors.

Local FOP President John McNesby did not provide immediate comment Friday morning, nor did the District Attorney’s Office. But prosecutors scheduled a press conference for later this morning to discuss “developments in the investigation.” They also said they would release unedited bodycam footage at the request of Irizarry’s family.

The Philadelphia Police officer who fatally shot Eddie Irizarry last month at near point-blank range through Irizarry’s car window surrendered to police this morning to face murder charges, his attorneys said.

Mark Dial turned himself in at a South Philadelphia police station Friday morning, alongside his attorneys and leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5. Dial said nothing, staring ahead as he walked through the station doors.

Local FOP President John McNesby did not provide immediate comment Friday morning, nor did the District Attorney’s Office. But prosecutors scheduled a press conference for later this morning to discuss “developments in the investigation.” They also said they would release unedited bodycam footage at the request of Irizarry’s family.

The case will marks the fourth time that District Attorney Larry Krasner has charged a police officer in connection with an on-duty shooting since he took office in 2018. One officer was convicted, one case was dismissed, and one remains pending in court. Before Krasner was sworn in, prosecutors had not charged a city police officer over an on-duty shooting in nearly two decades.

Dial was suspended from the Police Department with intent to dismiss last month. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she was moving to fire him for insubordination after he refused to speak with internal investigators about the shooting.

In announcing Dial’s termination at a news conference on Aug. 23, Outlaw declined to say whether she thought the shooting of Irizarry was a crime, saying the investigation was ongoing. And she did not answer questions about where the initial, erroneous narrative originated from, saying only that it came from an “internal source.”

Last Thursday, attorneys for the Irizarry family announced that the family had viewed body-worn camera footage from Dial and his partner from the fatal shooting. The footage — totaling about 20 minutes — bolstered the family’s unwavering contention that Irizarry was never the aggressor, as the police initially said he was, said Shaka Johnson, one of the family’s attorneys.

footage that shows Dial resorted to deadly force within seconds of encountering Irizarry.

The encounter began about 12:30 p.m. Aug. 14, when police said two uniformed officers with the 24th Police District saw Irizarry “driving erratically” near B Street and Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia.

Police initially said that when the officers attempted to pull him over, Irizarry fled in his gold Toyota Corolla. Police said the officers followed him south until he stopped on East Willard Street. As officers approached the stopped car, Irizarry stepped out with a knife, police said. Officials said the officers gave “multiple commands” for him to drop the weapon, but he “lunged” at them, and one officer then shot him multiple times.

About 30 hours later, after officials reviewed the body camera footage amid questions from Irizarry’s family and reporters, police retracted that narrative. In a new version, they said Irizarry never lunged at police with a knife, and it was unclear if he was even holding one.

Additionally, police said Irizarry was shot while seated in the driver’s seat of his car.