PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Testimony continued Tuesday in the trial against Mark Dial, the former Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a man sitting in his car during a traffic stop two years ago in the city’s Fairhill neighborhood.
Dial is facing third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and other charges in the shooting death of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry. On Aug. 14, 2023, Irizarry was pursued by police for driving erratically. When they pulled him over along East Willard Street, Irizarry was sitting in his car with a knife. But within seconds, Dial fired his service weapon.
The defense argues Dial thought the knife was a gun, and he fired in self-defense. He said the knife had a handle that looked like a firearm.
On Tuesday, several police officers testified about the investigation and the aftermath of the shooting.
A crime scene officer walked the jury through photos and videos of the aftermath of the shooting: blood in the car, shell casings marked by yellow plastic numbers and a Crime Scene Unit sticker indicating a hole in the car windshield.
One police supervisor testified that Dial seemed “visibly upset” at the hospital, where he brought Irizarry. Another said the district where the incident happened is typically a high-crime district where officers have been ambushed, but there was no known active threat that day.
They also said Dial admitted to firing at Irizarry several times and said he had his hand on the door handle of the victim’s car.
An internal affairs detective testified he believed Dial recoiled and tried to run for cover after fatally shooting Irizarry.
He said when Dial is seen firing in the footage, he recoils and runs backward, ducking for cover — proof, the defense said, that Dial believed Irizarry had a gun.
They also played an interview with an eyewitness neighbor who said she heard police say, “Do you have a gun?”
The prosecution called their use-of-force expert, who told jurors he believed the shooting of Irizarry — who was inside a car with the windows rolled up — was excessive.
But when the defense crossed, they asked the expert — who has a doctorate and works for the University of South Carolina — if he ever reviewed Pennsylvania’s law on use of force for law enforcement. The expert said no, he never read nor was given any information on Pennsylvania’s law for his findings, adding he had every other piece of evidence presented, including videos, pictures and interviews.
Before testimony, protesters gathered outside the Criminal Justice Center to denounce the killing, shouting Irizarry’s name and calling for justice.
Prosecutors have rested their case, and the defense will begin theirs Wednesday morning.