Eddie Irizarry shooting demands accountability | Editorial

As more details emerge in the shooting death of a Kensington man stopped by Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial and his partner, some facts have become clear while others remain fuzzy.

Let’s stipulate the obvious: Officer Dial killed Eddie Irizarry in broad daylight as he sat in his car on East Willard Street following a traffic stop.

If the opposite had occurred, Irizarry would likely be in prison and charged with murder. But since it was a police officer who did the shooting, the Police Department moved slowly and struggled mightily to get its story straight.

Initially, police falsely said Irizarry exited his car with a knife and lunged at them. But that story quickly fell apart, thanks to video footage from police body cameras and a home security camera.

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In fact, video from a home surveillance camera showed Irizarry remained behind the wheel with the car windows rolled up. As police approached, Dial’s partner yelled that Irizarry “had a weapon.” With that, Dial began shooting less than five seconds after exiting his patrol car.

Police did find two knives in Irizarry’s car, but that is not illegal, and there is no indication he was wielding either of them. According to an internal police email, Irizarry was shot in the face, chest, shoulder, and back.

Why such deadly force for a person sitting in their car? Why put out a bogus story? Why has it taken more than a week and several news conferences for some of the facts to emerge? How many other cover-ups go unnoticed without video evidence?

The Police Department’s handling of this senseless killing is beyond disturbing, and the negative impact will be long-lasting.

The only part of the police account that matches the video footage is that Irizarry was driving erratically the wrong way down a one-way street. In the video taken from a nearby home surveillance camera, he hit a cone while parallel parking and is seen driving at high speeds.

Such actions may warrant a traffic citation, but not killing him.

More than a week after Irizarry’s killing, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced the police were moving to fire Dial. It took a while for the facts to catch up to the police brass, but that is the obvious correct first step. Now Outlaw must release the police body camera footage so the public can see what really happened.

Whether Dial stays fired remains to be seen. Right on cue, the Fraternal Order of Police issued a statement in “full support” of Dial. The FOP is notorious for getting officers reinstated since, in the union’s eyes, no bad police deed ever goes punished.

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That leaves it up to District Attorney Larry Krasner to determine if real justice is served. Let’s hope all the facts come out soon and any and all wrongdoing is held accountable. That includes for Dial, his unnamed partner, and any other officers who may have participated in any efforts to mislead or cover up what appears to be a cold-blooded killing.

The disturbing problem is that none of the lessons of past police wrongful killings here and around the country have been learned. The same tragedies occur over and over as officers abuse their authority and use excessive force. It is often only because of video footage that the facts come out. Even then, officers often still evade accountability.

Such use of deadly force erodes trust in communities and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year to settle police misconduct claims. Each abuse, including wrongful arrests and killings, results in calls for better recruitment, training, and reform, but to little avail. The police wrongdoing also undermines the good and brave work of many other officers that often goes unnoticed.

Commissioner Outlaw seemed to grasp this point. When asked about rebuilding trust with the public after putting out inaccurate information, she likened the incident to taking “50 steps back.” But without honesty, transparency, and accountability, it will be impossible for the Police Department to take a step forward.