Eddie Irizarry case: Protesters rally around City Hall, demanding justice
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Protesters took over the streets outside of Philadelphia's City Hall Tuesday evening demanding justice for Eddie Irizarry.
"The feeling is just devasted, heartbroken for the family," Xiomara Torres, who represents the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said.
This just hours after a judge dropped all charges against former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial.
Irizarry's family is livid.
"Everyone in Philadelphia seen a murder. They seen my nephew get f***ing murdered. Ambushed. Ambushed in his f***ing car. And they threw out all the f***ing charges," Irizarry's aunt. Zoraida Garcia said.
Dial's defense attorney is elated.
"In this courtroom today there was justice," Brian McMonagle said. "This should've never been charged as a crime. And we're elated that Mark's coming home to his family."
We sat down for a one-on-one interview with Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford.
He says the decision on Dial returning to the force is out of his hands.
But there's an ongoing internal investigation aside from Tuesday's court decision.
Question: "How is this police department working to rebuild and maintain trust with the community in light of incidents like this?
John Stanford: "There's always those situations where you have an incident that can damage relationships or put a strain on them. But the reality is you have to do the work every day so that communities understand what you're doing and what you're about as an organization."
"The cops walk around killing our people with impunity, so I don't think the trust exists and it's been greatly eroded by this situation," Torres said.
Stanford believes good policing requires balance.
"Quite frankly the responsibility is on us to make sure that we are treating people with the level of dignity and respect that they deserve as human beings," he said. "You can make sure that you have training and policies that fall in line with best practices while also ensuring that you're taking a firm approach to fighting crime. Because at the end of the day, everybody in every community, across this city, they want to feel safe."
The DA's office filed a motion to reinstate charges against former officer Mark Dial.