PROSECUTORS in Philadelphia yesterday charged a police officer with the murder of a motorist and released bodycam footage from the August incident showing he had shot the driver several times.

The use of firearms by police in the United States during contentious traffic stops is widespread, with officers routinely claiming self-defence to escape being charged.

Videos taken from law enforcement bodycams are rarely immediately made public, and prosecutions for “murder” are equally uncommon.

“The allegations brought against defendant Mark Dial are among the most serious in our criminal legal system and are the culmination of weeks of investigative work,” Philadelphia prosecutor Larry Krasner said in a statement.

The 27-year-old police officer turned himself in to authorities yesterday. The charges against him include “murder” and “intentional homicide”.

The Philadelphia prosecutor’s office broadcast and distributed to the media a three-minute video of the intervention from midday on August 14. 

The raw footage, released at the request of the family of victim Eddie Irizarry, 27, was taken from the body camera of Dial, who was accompanied by a colleague. 

The footage begins with the officers following Irizarry in their car before the two vehicles stop side by side.

The officers then approach Irizarry, who is in the driver’s seat of his sedan, on foot and with their firearms in hand.

Soon after, a man can be heard shouting “I’m going to shoot you” followed by six shots being fired at the front window of Irizarry’s car.

The two officers are then seen walking around the vehicle, one of them still pointing his gun and opening the doors. The victim can be seen bleeding in his seat.

The wounded man is then dragged out of his car and lifted by his arms and legs before being placed in the police SUV. 

After being transported to the hospital, Irizarry was pronounced dead, with medical examiners saying the cause was multiple gunshot wounds and listing the manner of death as “homicide”, the prosecutor’s office said. 

“Our Special Investigations Unit will continue to seek the truth of what happened on August 14 and what led to the killing of Mr Irizarry, who was shot to death in his vehicle with the windows up,” Kasner said.  

The Philadelphia district attorney’s office has promised “even-handed justice” in the case. – AFP, September 9, 2023