Supporters of Eddie Irizarry, killed by a Philly cop in 2023, rally on second day of trial
Supporters of the Irizarry family called for former Officer Mark Dial, who shot and killed Irizarry in 2023, to be sentenced to prison.
Supporters and family of Eddie Irizarry, who was shot and killed by a Philadelphia police officer in 2023, gathered Tuesday outside the courthouse where the officer is on trial for murder and called for justice for the slain man.
Speakers at the rally said the now-former officer, Mark Dial, should go to prison for killing Irizarry as he sat in his car after a traffic stop on a Kensington street.
“We’re here to demand justice today and every other day until Eddie’s family gets justice,” said Talia Giles, of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which organized the gathering.
As she spoke, Dial’s trial on charges of third-degree murder and related crimes was poised to begin its second day of testimony in the building behind her.
When the trial opened Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys gave conflicting accounts of what happened on the summer day that Irizarry, 27, was killed.
As Irizarry sat in his car with the windows up, holding a knife, Dial shot him six times in what prosecutors said was a crime committed with wanton disregard for human life. Defense lawyers said Dial mistakenly believed that Irizarry had a gun and posed a threat to him and his partner.
As Tuesday’s rally got underway outside the courthouse, Irizarry’s father and namesake, Eddie Irizarry, stopped to watch as supporters said Dial should go to prison for killing his son.
“He was sitting inside the car, it was closed completely,” the elder Irizarry said in Spanish before heading inside the building to attend the trial. “He shot because he wanted to. There wasn’t any danger.”
Irizarry’s aunt, Zoraida Garcia, briefly spoke to those gathered and thanked them for their support.
On Aug. 14, 2023, Dial and his partner, Officer Michael Morris, had seen Irizarry driving erratically in Kensington and followed him as Irizarry turned the wrong way down East Willard Street and parked his car, police said.
Dial jumped out, drew his gun, and within seconds shot Irizarry, who was holding a knife to his side, sitting in the driver’s seat, according to body-camera footage released by authorities.
Irizarry, 27, was struck six times and rushed to Temple University Hospital by Dial and Morris. He died shortly after.
Within weeks of the shooting, then-Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw fired Dial for refusing to cooperating with an internal investigation. Dial was arrested and charged with murder the next month.
Tuesday’s protest was the latest in a series of rallies organized after Irizarry’s death, which sparked citywide and national outrage.
In the months after Irizarry was killed, hundreds of supporters and activists took to the streets calling for Dial’s arrest and imprisonment and speaking about police brutality in Philadelphia and beyond.