Philly's Latine community rallies in powerful march demanding justice for Eddie Irizarry

BY NIGEL THOMPSON ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

The moment that Charito Morales heard about Eddie Irizarry’s killing at the hands of a Philadelphia police officer, she picked up the phone to call around the community.

“I tried to figure out who the family was,” Morales told ¡Presente! Media on Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Charito Morales raises a Puerto Rican flag while marching at the front of the demonstration for Eddie Irizarry, as it makes its way up 5th Street in North Philadelphia on Thursday, Aug. 31. (Nigel Thompson for ¡Presente! Media)

It was two days before one of her organizations, Philly Boricuas, would join forces with Mijente and around 200 residents and concerned citizens from across the Philadelphia region in a rally and march demanding that Eddie’s killer, Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial, be brought to justice, and that Dial’s bodycam footage be released to the public.

The rally began on Thursday, Aug. 31 at 4:30 p.m. in front of Taller Puertorriqueño and was followed by a march at 5 p.m. The march’s final destination was the 24th and 25th police district headquarters near St. Christopher’s Hospital, but a pit stop was made at the halfway point on Willard Street, where Eddie was killed.

A final speaker addresses the crowd gathered outside Taller Puertorriqueño rallying for justice for Eddie Irizarry on Thursday, Aug. 31. (Nigel Thompson for ¡Presente! Media)

At the rally, Robert Saleem Holbrook took the mic first. He’s a lecturer at Penn and the executive director of the Abolitionist Law Center. Holbrook’s speech touched on the similarities between Irizarry’s killing and that of Walter Wallace Jr. in West Philly, which happened on Oct. 26, 2020. 

“I knew I had to show up, but I also knew in my soul that I was exhausted,” he said.

Holbrook went on to discuss the incident, and how it happened so fast.

“Five seconds,” he said. “When that officer got out that car, it was five seconds before Eddie was killed.”

The initial narrative from the Philadelphia Police Department was that Eddie was driving erratically when a police cruiser began to give chase. The pursuit ended when Irizarry turned onto Willard Street in Fairhill and pulled over. Police said the 27-year-old then emerged from his Toyota Corolla wielding a knife and “lunged” at Dial, forcing him to shoot and kill Irizarry.

A day later, it was revealed that this story wasn’t true. 

After reviewing bodycam footage from the incident, PPD admitted that Irizarry never fled from an initial traffic stop. He also never got out of his car to attack an officer with a knife, and was seated in the driver’s seat of his car when Dial shot him six times. On Wednesday, Aug. 16, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the department was “backtracking” on its initial story.

But the extent of the PPD’s inconsistencies wouldn’t be fully realized until Tuesday, Aug. 22, when attorneys for Irizarry’s family released surveillance footage from the scene, depicting Dial emerging from his police cruiser and no more than five seconds elapsing before he begins to shoot at Irizarry.

On Wednesday, Aug. 23, Outlaw announced that Dial would be put on 30-day administrative leave with the intent to fire him for insubordination.

“We’re here for accountability and transparency,” Holbrook continued.

A demonstrator holds two signs demanding justice for Eddie Irizarry and his family while marching up 5th Street in North Philadelphia on Thursday, Aug. 31. (Nigel Thompson for ¡Presente! Media)

When Xiomara Torres of the Party for Socialism and Liberation spoke at the rally, she touched on the day’s importance, but also the need to “keep coming out and showing up.” Torres also made a plea to the majority Puerto Rican community.

“As puertorriqueños, as a boricua community, we need to be involved in the larger struggle against police terror in our neighborhoods,” she said. “If we’re serious about getting justice for Eddie and all victims of police terror in Philadelphia, we need to do two things: we need to organize and we need to fight back.”

Earlier on Thursday, Irizarry’s family met with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner to review the bodycam footage from the incident. In a press conference at Concilio alongside other community leaders and public officials, one of the family’s lawyers said that it provided “further irrefutable proof” that the PPD’s initial narrative was false. The family issued the initial call that it be released to the public.

Around 10 members of Irizarry’s family were in attendance at the rally and march. They donned shirts and carried signs emblazoned with ‘Junito,’ Eddie’s nickname, and led the march carrying a banner that read: ‘Justice for Eddie Irizarry.’ 

When the march reached Willard, Eddie’s family erected an altar in his honor on the sidewalk in front of a relative’s house. They and a number of marchers took turns placing white roses at the altar, symbolizing Eddie’s youth and innocence. 

“It was really painful,” Morales said, recalling her first meeting with Irizarry’s family not long after he was killed.

Morales offered her church, Christ and St. Ambrose Episcopal at 6th and Venango, as a place for the family to mourn Eddie. They had been past attendees of its mass, and a funeral procession was held there for Eddie on Thursday, Aug. 24.

“We provided them with comfort, love, [and] support,” said Morales of the community’s embrace of the family.

But it didn’t stop there, as Morales and other community leaders began to organize a march and rally unlike any that’s been seen in Philadelphia’s Latine community in quite some time. As she put it, it’s a community that often doesn’t make “a lot of noise.”

“But to what extent? To what extent are we going to keep ourselves silent?” Morales said. “Now we’re gonna step up. Uniting our anger, everything, the sentiment, we can accomplish something.”

“It’s time to show them that the community also has power,” she continued.

Morales also said it was important for Irizarry’s family to know that “you’re not alone.”

After a moment of silence and a prayer on Willard, the march continued to the police district headquarters, and arrived around 7 p.m. to meet a long line of police waiting outside in silence. A standoff of sorts took place, as marchers stood in the street and faced the officers, shouting their demands.

“We’re asking Commissioner Danielle Outlaw to release the body cam footage now,” yelled Rafael Alvarez Febo, one of the lead march organizers.

Members of Irizarry’s family then took the mic and spoke their demands of justice directly to the officers.

“If you want the community’s respect, you have to earn it,” Eddie’s father, Eddie Irizarry Sr. said in Spanish after demanding that the department get rid of its “rotten apples.”

Not long after, the march dispersed peacefully, as those in attendance made their way home as the sun set in North Philly.

When speaking to ¡Presente! after the rally and march, Zoraida Garcia, Irizarry’s aunt, thanked the community for its support amid the tragedy.

“It meant a lot to see so much of the community come out today and have a peaceful walk with me, and to show that we want justice,” she said.

Garcia also vowed to continue pushing until Dial faces consequences.

“We are gonna continue to fight like we did today, peacefully,” she said. “Until I see him behind bars.”