A judge reinstated charges against former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial — who was accused of fatally shooting motorist Eddie Irizarry — after previous charges against him were dropped last month.
The charges include murder, manslaughter, official oppression and four other counts, Fox 29 reported.
“We’re going to continue to fight, we’re going to appeal the case and continue to fight,” Zoraida Garcia, Irizarry’s aunt, told the outlet. “He committed a crime and he needs to pay for the crime he committed.”
In September, Philadelphia Municipal Judge Wendy Pew watched footage of the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Irizarry before ruling to dismiss all charges against Mr Dial. He had previously been facing charges that included voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and simple assault.
Later that same day of the judge’s ruling, the District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to reinstate the charges against Mr Dial.
The decision to reinstate charges also comes after protesters marched in the city center and Irizarry’s family filed a complaint o in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas against Mr Dial and another officer.
Irizarry was shot dead after he was pulled over for allegedly driving his Toyota Corolla erratically on 14 August.
Mr Dial’s defence team had argued that the officer was acting in self-defence, echoing the officer’s initial claims that Irizarry “lunged” at him outside of the car.
Last month, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner released unedited bodycam footage of the “extremely violent” fatal shooting at the request of Irizarry’s family which showed Mr Dial fire six shots through his window in close range.
After the footage was released, the police department walked back on its initials claims that the 27-year-old had “lunged” at him.
He was fired in August from the police department.
