The Citizens Police Oversight Commission is calling for the termination of Officer Mark Dial for the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry.
The oversight commission released a statement on Tuesday which said after reviewing the information they have recommended that the Philadelphia Police Department terminate Officer Dial.
In the statement the commission also said that the fatal shooting “raised many questions and concerns from the community,” and “this incident has been particularly troubling due to the incorrect information that was initially reported by PPD.”
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This comes after Andrew Erace, with the CPOC, spoke with NBC10’s Frances Wang and said that the oversight commission felt the main mistake police made was the timeframe when they publicly spoke on the case.
“This doesn’t smell rotten to me,” Erace said last weel. “This smells like in an effort to be transparent quickly they spoke before things were verified and some narratives that weren’t true got out there.”
Officer Dial is a five-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department and is currently assigned to the 24th District. He is now on administrative leave.
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Investigators said Irizarry was driving the wrong way along the 100 block of E. Willard Street at 12:28 p.m. when he was pulled over by Officer Dial, a five-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, and his partner.
Attorney Shaka Johnson was joined by the family of 27-year-old Irizarry during a noon press conference in Center City on Tuesday. During the presser, Johnson showed surveillance video of what he claimed was the deadly police shooting.
"On August 14 it appears he committed the cardinal sin of driving erratically. Which, I don't care how you unpack this, a death sentence is not called for, for erratic driving," Attorney Johnson said during Tuesday's press conference.
When the officers approached Irizarry's vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that Officer Dial attempted to open the passenger door of the car, when his partner alerted him that Irizarry was armed.
While one of the officers is heard saying something to the other officer in the video moments before the shooting, it's unclear what exactly is being said.
Police said Officer Dial fired "multiple times" and that Irizarry was hit "several" times. Irizarry's family said that he was shot six times, which is consistent with what's shown in the surveillance video.
Outlaw said that officials are not yet certain whether Irizarry knew he was being followed by police.
Irizarry was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:48 p.m. that day, officials said.
Initially, police officials said that Irizarry was outside of the vehicle while armed with a knife and had lunged at police before he was shot. Police later said this information was not accurate however and instead he was inside the car and simply turned when he was shot and killed.
The video that was shown during Tuesday's press conference shows the officers firing at the vehicle only a few seconds after pulling it over. At no point was Irizarry outside of the car. It's unclear from the video whether or not Irizarry turned while in the car.
Police are still investigating this incident at this time.
