What to Know
- The lawyer for the family of a man who was shot and killed by a Philadelphia police officer last week released video of the shooting during a press conference on Tuesday.
- The family of 27-year-old Eddie Jose Irizarry attended a press conference at noon at 1801 Market Street in Center City.
- During the presser, the family's lawyer, Shaka Johnson, showed surveillance video of the deadly shooting.
The lawyer for the family of a man who was shot and killed by a Philadelphia police officer last week released video of the shooting during a press conference on Tuesday.
Attorney Shaka Johnson was joined by the family of 27-year-old Eddie Jose Irizarry during the noon press conference in Center City. During the presser, Johnson showed surveillance video of what he claimed was the deadly police shooting.
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"We are here this afternoon because we have asked the city of Philadelphia through the District Attorney's Office, through the city solicitor's office, to allow the family to give them the respect they are due and allow them to see the body worn camera footage privately," Johnson said. "Even if it weren't going to be released publicly, allow this family to see that privately."
Johnson said he and Irizarry's family were able to obtain surveillance video from the community after they were unable to get the body worn camera video from city officials.
"You may have heard we were initially set to see this body worn camera footage last Friday and then that was rescinded. The opportunity to see that was rescinded," Johnson said. "As a result, we're working tirelessly with this family. We had to go about things on our own and acquire video of this particular incident ourselves."
The video shows a car pulling up and parking on a narrow street. A few seconds later, a police vehicle pulls up next to the car and two officers get out.
The officers are heard repeatedly saying, "show me your hands" while aiming their weapons at the vehicle. One of the officers then fires six shots at the car a few seconds later.
One of the officers then opens up the car door and pulls the driver out. Both officers then carry the motionless driver as they walk away.
What we know about the shooting
The shooting occurred on Monday, August 14, in Philadelphia.
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 Mark Dial, a five-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, and his partner.
"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," 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.
During Tuesday's press conference, Johnson criticized the initial account from police that they later said was inaccurate.
"When you look at this video, I want you to ask yourselves, look at it critically and ask yourselves, how, based on what you will soon see, could the narrative have ever been, this was a police chase? How could Ms. Reilly have ever taken to the podium as a spokesperson for the police department and said that Mr. Irizarry, Eddie, got out of that vehicle, wielded a knife, and I believe I heard Ms. Jasmine Reilly say, 'officers gave commands to drop the knife whilst Eddie was outside of the vehicle. He did not do that. He in fact lunged at police officers and then was shot.' We know that that is a patent lie. It is a fabrication. It did not happen that way at all," Johnson said.
Corporal Jasmine Reilly is a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department who read the initial report of the shooting but was not the officer who created the actual report.
Outlaw said investigators knew their initial story was not accurate after watching body camera footage from the officers on the scene.
"The body worn camera footage made it very clear that what we initially reported was not actually what happened," she said.
Law enforcement officials also claimed two knives "were observed inside the vehicle." Officials said these were a serrated folding knife and some type of kitchen knife. It's unclear from the video shown Tuesday whether or not there were knives inside the car.
Outlaw noted last week that Officer Dial had not yet been interviewed by officials at the time of the press conference.
Officials said that officers have 72 hours after a shooting incident in order to obtain counsel before they must be interviewed by investigators.
"There are questions as to how this was handled tactically," Outlaw said.
Outlaw said an investigation is ongoing and Officer Dial has been placed on administrative leave.
“I understand and want to acknowledge the hurt and confusion that family and community members can experience when details of investigations change and especially when they change in the very public way that this has occurred. In the name of transparency, I strive for our department to release as much detail as possible when we can do so without damaging the integrity of the investigation," Outlaw said. "That is why we preface all of our releases by stating that information is preliminary and subject to change. At the time we gave that information, that was the best information that we had available. And we always strive to clarify and update that information as quickly and accurately as possible. That’s what we’re doing here today.”
Outlaw also addressed the issue of establishing trust between police and the community amid discrepancies in reports.
“It’s a challenge. You know the question is how do we reestablish the trust. Sometimes I feel like we take 20 steps forward and it just takes one incident, we take, you know, 50 steps backward," Outlaw said. "And I’m hoping that our efforts in being transparent is at least a first step in that. I understand the reticence. I understand folks not really being sure whether or not they should even trust what we’re saying today because of what we said initially. But I’m hoping that they see that this is a genuine effort to do everything that we can to share what we know when we have it as we receive it.”
What we know about Eddie Irizarry
NBC10's Miguel Martinez-Valle spoke with Irizarry's family. They said his primary language was Spanish and that he didn't understand or speak English well. They also said he had a mental health illness. Johnson also spoke about Irizarry's mental health issues during Tuesday's press conference.
"That young man unfortunately doesn't speak a word of English and he battled with schizophrenia for many, many years," Johnson said.
Johnson said Irizarry had moved to the United States from Puerto Rico at the age of 19 and had never been in trouble with the law.
"This young man has never been arrested a day in his life," Johnson said. "He's never seen handcuffs, the inside of a jail cell. Ever in 27 years. Never had a negative encounter with police."
Responses from Philadelphia Police and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office responded to Johnson's claim that the office rescinded the family's request to see the body worn camera footage of the shooting.
"The Philadelphia DA’s Office has been in contact repeatedly and at length with the Irizarry family by communicating with their legal counsel. We look forward to meeting with them and their legal counsel in person, in the near future," the spokesperson wrote.
"The DA’s Office intends to keep its sworn obligation to seek justice for all those involved in the fatal shooting of Mr. Irizarry, as well as for all those Philadelphians who are not directly involved but who care deeply about fairness, justice, and independence.
We will have more to say about this situation when we can do so consistent with preserving the quality and integrity of our independent investigation."
NBC10 also reached out to Philadelphia Police for a response to the video and Johnson's statements. They sent the following statement Tuesday afternoon.
"As with all officer-involved shootings, a full and thorough investigation is being conducted through the Philadelphia Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau and Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Unit," a spokesperson wrote. "While we value transparency, we must maintain the integrity of the ongoing investigations. Once our investigation is concluded, we will be able to provide additional information about this incident. Footage from BWC activated during the incident is considered evidence in ongoing investigations. Act 22 Section 67A08 (3) requires the prosecuting attorney’s written approval prior to the PPD’s public release of the body-worn camera videos and 911 recordings. The Police Department has not received that and is therefore prohibited by law from releasing the footage at this time."
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