District Attorney Larry Krasner said Tuesday that Eric Lewis, the man charged with killing a Philadelphia police officer and shooting at 10 others this weekend, was free to commit that crime because two other officers had botched an earlier murder case against Lewis in a way that was “arguably criminal.”
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The startling allegation from the city’s top prosecutor, delivered in a YouTube video Tuesday morning, not only blamed a police officer and homicide detective with sinking the case against Lewis at a 2023 trial — it also insinuated that their actions allowed Lewis to remain free to kill Police Officer Shane Seiber three years later.
Krasner did not make himself available to answer questions about the case, and his office did not respond to questions about it earlier this week. His video statement did not indicate whether his office planned to investigate the officers — whom he did not name — for actions he said could amount to obstruction of justice.
Still, the explosive remarks came just days after Seiber was killed in a shooting that has rocked the local law enforcement community. And the comments threatened to deepen tensions between the reform-oriented Krasner and many within the Philadelphia Police Department, who for years have said his office has failed to hold defendants accountable.
A spokesperson for the police department could not be immediately reached to react to Krasner’s remarks.
The comments stemmed from a case in which Lewis was charged with killing Christopher Williams, 32, in a road-rage shooting in West Philadelphia in August 2019.
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Prosecutors tried Lewis for murder and related crimes during a two-day bench trial in front of Judge J. Scott O’Keefe in April 2023.
But O’Keefe, troubled by the police investigation and inconsistencies in testimony between a witness and homicide detectives, acquitted Lewis, according to multiple people familiar with the judge’s thinking.
O’Keefe was so disturbed by the investigation, he contacted the police department’s Internal Affairs Unit.
“We believe this is the only instance in this distinguished judge’s career of his engaging Internal Affairs to address police misconduct,” Krasner said of O’Keefe in a statement.
O’Keefe declined to comment.
Krasner said the investigation was “deeply troubled.”
And in his video, he said the “worst example” was that one officer who was a potential witness against Lewis tried “to torpedo his own testimony” because he was dating Lewis’ sister. Krasner said the officer, whom he did not identify, “made up a complete lie” about an alternate suspect and gave “false information to law enforcement.”
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.