PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — District Attorney Larry Krasner is blaming the Philadelphia Police Department for a botched murder case in which the suspect, now accused of killing officer Shane Seiber, was acquitted.
Eric Lewis, 35, faces first-degree murder in the shooting death of 40-year-old Seiber, who was killed in the line of duty early Saturday morning in West Philadelphia.
In 2023, Lewis was acquitted by a judge of murder for a road rage-related shooting.
Krasner has shied away from press conferences recently, but in a 3-minute taped video on YouTube, he pointed the blame squarely at police.
“It was not just full of errors and mistakes, very serious ones, but some of the conduct involving one police officer and one detective is arguably criminal,” he said.
Because there was no press conference, reporters were unable to ask questions about the office's conduct. But other law enforcement sources and defense attorneys say the buck ultimately stops with the prosecutor trying the case.
“The prosecutor should be working directly with the detective to go over what happened in the investigation, to kind of go over how evidence was collected, go over what the detective is going to be testifying to at trial,” said Former Philly Assistant District Attorney Liam Riley.
The DA who handled that case is no longer in the homicide unit. The officer who identified Lewis in the road rage shooting case was romantically involved with Lewis’ sister and has since been fired by the department.
Lewis was charged with violating a protection from abuse order put in place in January 2025.
The details of that case have not been made immediately available.
In a statement, Philadelphia police said they "will continue to examine every aspect of this matter, including the prior investigation and prosecution. Where accountability is warranted, we will act, as Commissioner [Kevin] Bethel has already demonstrated."
"There will be a time to address the full record, but it is not now," the department said. "Assigning blame while families are grieving does nothing to advance accountability or support those affected. True leadership does not seek to assign fault in a moment like this. It stands with the families. And when the time comes, it holds itself to the same scrutiny it asks of others. We will have more to say. Right now, these families deserve our attention, our support and our respect."
