Police Said They Shot A Man Who Was Lunging At Them With A Knife. Then Their Story Changed

The family of a man shot and killed by Philadelphia police during a traffic stop Monday is just looking for answers. Unfortunately, the police who took the young man’s life seem to be less than forthcoming about what actually happened that night.

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Police originally gave the story that Eddie Irizarry, 27, was spotted driving erratically through North Philly in his gold Toyota Corolla. They said when they attempted to stop Irizarry, he fled. When they did manage to get him to stop, officers said Irizarry exited his vehicle and lunged at them with a knife drawn. Officers commanded Irizarry to drop the knife, and when he didn’t they opened fire. Irizarry was shot six times.

But that story had some major rewriting as of Tuesday to a far more bizarre interaction with police. From the Inquirer:

According to the new statement, the officers observed Irizarry “driving erratically” but did not attempt to pull him over, and instead followed him as he drove south. Irizarry then pulled the wrong way onto the 100 block of East Willard Street, and parked his car.

[…]

The officers got out of their patrol car and approached Irizarry’s car from both sides. As one officer approached the driver’s side of the car, the second attempted to open the passenger side door. One officer then alerted his partner that “the male had a weapon.”

As Irizarry turned toward the officer on the driver’s side, that officer shot Irizarry multiple times. The statement said that “two knives were observed inside the vehicle.”

The statement does not say whether Irizarry was holding the knife or had threatened police with it. It also does not say that the officers ordered Irizarry to drop the weapon before firing.

So, every detail the police originally said about the stop was wrong. The department has not named the officer who shot Irizarry, but does say the officer is on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing. Reassuring! There’s even the strange detail of a possible bullet hole in Irizarry’s windshield.

Police denied Irizarry’s family the ability to even see his body. An officer stopped them at the morgue pending an ongoing investigation, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. How much more pain does the police department plan to put these poor people through?

Man armed with knife fatally shot by Philadelphia officer during traffic stop, police say