Eddie Irizarry, 27 year old, murdered by Philly cops, August 14, 2023. Photo: Eddie Irizarry/Facebook
"I agree with you 100%" said Judge Wendy Pew to the lawyer for ex-Philadelphia pig Mark Dial during a September 26 preliminary hearing in his trial for murdering Puerto Rico-born Eddie Irizarry on August 14. Dial had claimed he was acting in "self-defense" when he shot Irizarry. In the face of gruesome body cam footage clearly showing Dial killed him in cold blood, the judge dismissed all of the charges against this murdering pig.
In a recent article we wrote about this police murder and attempted official cover-up. Authorities first told reporters that during a traffic stop, Eddie Irizarry had jumped out of his car with a knife in his hand and lunged at Dial as he approached, forcing him to open fire. Yet just days later, they held another press conference and changed their story—without explanation—telling reporters Irizarry was sitting behind the steering wheel when he was shot to death. But no charges were brought.
Even though the authorities had the police body cam videos of the shooting from the start, it took them three weeks to release them—and when they finally did, they announced at the same time that seven felony counts, including first degree murder, had been filed against Dial. The videos show that in a matter of five seconds after arriving on the scene, Dial jumped out of his van with gun drawn, ran up to Eddie Irizarry's closed window shouting “Show your hands” and “I will fucking shoot you,” and immediately fired six rounds at point blank range through the car window. Eddie had no gun and posed no immediate threat.
In bringing the charges, the DA said that “the body-cam footage speaks for itself.”
Video shows Philadelphia police officer shooting Eddie Irizarry moments after arriving on the scene
There was nothing presented at the September 26 preliminary hearing in Dial’s case that in any way undermined what the videos show. Nothing that should convince anyone who isn't a pig or pig sympathizer that these videos show “self-defense”… nothing that justifies the judge’s decision to drop all charges.
The hearing featured 20 minutes of the gruesome body-cam video of the killing of Eddie Irizarry, testimony by Dial's partner, and a police “expert.” The partner said he saw Eddie holding a knife while in his car and slowly bringing it upwards—"I screamed that he had a knife." But Dial’s lawyer, knowing that no one could think Eddie was about to shove his knife through the closed window, got the partner to say it “could have looked like a gun” because the knife supposedly had a metal handle. And then he got the partner to waffle and say he may have yelled “gun” after he yelled “knife.”
So despite the fact that there was no gun found in Eddie’s car, and no gun was ever mentioned when the pigs lied about what happened in their original police report, the judge dismissed all of the charges for lack of evidence. In other words, it was okay to open fire and murder Eddie Irizarry since “the officer could have feared for his life” because he “thought Eddie had a gun.” How many fucking times have we heard that before... over and over and over again, when the police unjustly cut down a person’s life? Enough!
Bob Avakian: Yes there’s a conspiracy, to get the cops off.
When the judge announced her decision, the side of the courtroom filled with cops and Dial's family jumped out of their seats and cheered. The side filled with Eddie's family and supporters were stunned and shocked and cursed the celebrating pigs.
Outside, Eddie's aunt expressed people's outrage:
Everyone in Philadelphia seen a murder. They seen my nephew get fucking murdered. Ambushed. Ambushed in his fucking car. And they threw out all the fucking charges. You just proved to Philadelphia that an officer can kill somebody, and get the fuck away with it in Philadelphia.
Eddie's sister said: “It didn’t take [the judge] even a second for her to say, ‘Yes, I agree with you.’ She didn’t even let anybody else talk… The evidence, everything is there.” She said, “We’re going to keep fighting for my brother.”
Within hours of the outrageous decision, hundreds of protesters took over the streets downtown and rallied outside Philadelphia's City Hall, with angry speeches and signs calling for Dial's arrest and demanding justice for Eddie Irizarry.
Later that evening, after this demonstration was over, police made over 50 arrests of youths in the wake of what they say was widespread “rioting” and “looting.”
The DA refiled all seven charges against Dial later the same day with the Court of Common Pleas, a higher court, in a move that the DA’s office said was the same as an appeal. The hearing is scheduled for October 25. Where the righteous struggle for justice for Eddie Irizarry goes from here is not yet determined.
As we wrote earlier:
Once again people everywhere have to ask: What kind of a system creates and relies on crude, lying and murdering pigs like these to “serve and protect” its interests over the people—and then does all it can to cover their crimes? A system that needs to be swept away as soon as possible through an actual revolution and replaced with a fundamentally different system that opens up a whole new way to live.
And everyone has to ask this as well: Am I going to continue to live with this system, to put my hope in its reforms and politicians that never change shit… or am I going to check out and throw into the only way this madness can be ended: through revolution?
