Eddie Irizarry, 27 year old, murdered by Philly cops, August 14, 2023. Photo: Eddie Irizarry/Facebook
On October 25, a judge in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia (an appeals court) reinstated all seven charges, including murder, against ex-Philly pig Mark Dial, saying “the facts of the case should be established at a trial.” On August 14, Dial fired six bullets into 27-year-old Puerto Rican-born Eddie Irizarry through a closed car window at point blank range during a traffic stop.1
The reinstatement of the charges against Dial reverses the decision made one month earlier at a preliminary hearing.2 The judge in that hearing threw out all the charges for “lack of evidence.” This was after the showing of 20 minutes of body-cam footage showing Dial and his partner commit cold-blooded murder. The footage shows Dial jump out of the police van as soon as it stops, run in front of Eddie Irizarry's car shouting “show your hands” and “I will fucking shoot you,” and immediately opening fire—in a matter of seconds. The District Attorney held this video footage from the public for three weeks while Eddie was being repeatedly slandered in the media. And then when finally releasing it, he said the video “speaks for itself.” One of the things it “says” is that the pigs' original report—claiming Eddie got out of his car and lunged at Dial with a knife in his hand—was a complete lie.
Screen grab of body cam showing Philadelphia cops murdering Eddie Irizarry, August 14, 2023. Photo: AP/Philadelphia Police Department
In the September 26 preliminary hearing, Dial’s partner testified that he allegedly saw Eddie holding a knife and yelled “knife” just before Dial opened fire. However, Dial's lawyer got the partner to change his story and say the knife could have looked like a gun and that maybe he actually yelled “gun” after yelling “knife.” So the defense lawyer claimed Dial “could have thought he saw a gun” and opened fire in “self-defense.” But there is no explanation why the initial report by the pigs does not even mention seeing a gun.
Nevertheless, the judge at the preliminary hearing told Dial’s attorney and the courtroom, “I agree with you 100%” and dropped the charges for “lack of evidence.” Her decision led to cheers from fellow cops and supporters in the courtroom—and throughout a section of Philadelphia and beyond. Eddie's family, supporters, and others were horrified.
The latest decision by the appeals court judge to reinstate all of the charges on Dial is being welcomed, of course, by Eddie's family and supporters, and by growing numbers in Philly and far beyond who saw the footage of the murder and then watched in outrage as yet another killer pig walked free after that preliminary hearing.
The reinstatement of the charges is also being welcomed by Democratic officials in Philadelphia and at higher levels, in the hopes of restoring the illusion among the people that there can be justice for Black and other people of color within this system. They remember how Philadelphia, along with cities across the country, was rocked for days with people outraged over the 2020 police murder of George Floyd.3
The reinstating of charges is NOT being welcomed by another section of Philadelphia and those beyond who think that Dial was overcharged or should not have been charged to begin with. These are the forces in society—all the way up to the Republi-fascists in powerful positions within all the government institutions—who want the police to be unhampered and fully unleashed in violently repressing the people and exerting “law and order.” This is who Dial's attorney was speaking to when he told reporters he'll try to get the case moved to “a county where law and order matters.” It's in this volatile atmosphere that the case against the pig who murdered Eddie Irizarry will move forward.
