DA Krasner suggests inquiry into police misconduct in ‘flawed’ 2019 Eric Lewis murder investigation possible
The DA suggested that the behavior of an officer and a homicide detective assigned to the case had been “arguably criminal.”
District Attorney Larry Krasner hinted at the possibility of investigating a police officer for his role in the “deeply flawed” 2019 murder investigation of Eric Lewis, the man charged with killing Officer Shane Seiber in West Philadelphia last week.
Krasner, asked during a news conference Friday if his office previously sought charges against an officer he recently accused of purposefully misdirecting that investigation — perhaps contributing to Lewis’ release after being found not guilty of killing a man at a 2023 trial — the district attorney had this to say:
“I would ask the question differently,” he said, proposing it be framed: “Will your office pursue charges?”
He did not comment further on that idea.
The press appearance, Krasner’s first since making startling claims via YouTube video this week about police’s handling of the investigation into the murder of 32-year-old Christopher Williams, saw the district attorney again suggest that the behavior of the officer and a homicide detective assigned to the case had been “arguably criminal.”
“It’s a crime to provide false information to law enforcement, it’s a crime to obstruct justice,” Krasner said Friday.
Several years before the Saturday killing of Seiber, Lewis walked free from a bench trial in which he had been accused of fatally shooting Williams during a road-rage incident in West Philadelphia.
Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott O’Keefe acquitted Lewis after finding serious problems with the police investigation, according to a rare letter from the judge. The concerns were grave enough for O’Keefe to report the officers to the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
Krasner’s video remarks Tuesday echoed many of those doubts, spreading quickly across social media as law enforcement continued to mourn Seiber, a married father of two, and members of City Council sought to lower the temperature on discourse surrounding the allegations.
Police leaders have not directly responded to the district attorney’s remarks.
Naeem Amir Crawley, the officer Krasner accused of attempting to botch the investigation by introducing false evidence about a supposed alternative shooter, was eventually fired from the department. He did not respond to requests for comment.
“There will be a time to address the full record, but it is not now,” police department spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said in a statement Tuesday.
In 2023, Judge O’Keefe wrote that the problems in the Lewis investigation were severe.
Among them were differing sets of evidence recorded under the same property receipt number, according to the letter. And the judge said the lead homicide detective did not appear to have investigated problems with an eyewitness’ recollection of the shooting.
That detective also failed to deliver prosecutors subpoenaed copies of Lewis’ social media accounts, the letter said, and later admitted that she never secured a warrant to obtain his cell phone records.
This week, in addition to saying the investigation had been flawed, Krasner insisted his prosecutors were not to blame for the outcome. They had been left to salvage a weak case against Lewis, he said in the video.
And he noted an additional aspect that, in his view, amounted to the most egregious example of investigatory misconduct.
That was the behavior of Crawley. The officer initially brought information to homicide detectives identifying Lewis as the man who killed Williams, according to a source familiar with the case who was not permitted to speak publicly about it.
However, Crawley was dating Lewis’ sister, Krasner said.
And because of that relationship, he said, the officer then tried to “torpedo his own testimony” by lying about an alternate suspect named “Spice.”
Krasner did not identify Crawley by name Friday, saying any remarks about potential consequences for someone in the officer’s position — such as an obstruction of justice charge — remain “abstract.” No such investigation has been confirmed.
“We will have more to say after we get the opportunity to speak more fully to some of” those involved, he said.
Staff writers Ellie Rushing and Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
