PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT VIA AP
Former Philadelphia police officer Edsaul Mendoza has been sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison following the death of 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio.
April that Mendoza had pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime as part of a plea deal with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office after fatally shooting Siderio in the back on March 1, 2022. On Monday, July 22, Mendoza was sentenced and told the court he “felt sorrow and regret,” per the Associated Press.
Per the AP, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said there were times when surveillance footage “contradicted” some of what the former cop was saying, including that Siderio pointed a gun at him. He also said, per the outlet, that he was standing in the street when he fired the bullet, not standing over Siderio on the sidewalk.
AP added that prosecutors said Siderio was “on the ground and unarmed” when Mendoza, who was in an unmarked police car, shot him in the back. The boy was said to have fired a shot at the vehicle and injured one of four officers, who weren’t in uniform, inside the car. Siderio had been with an unnamed 17-year-old at the time.
NBC News reported that evidence presented to the jury showed Mendoza fired three shots at the 12-year-old; two of which were said to have been fired after Siderio had discarded his gun. On Monday, prosecutor Clarke Beljean discussed some of the reasons prosecutors had been pushing for a higher sentence of a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40 years for Mendoza.
“Mr. Mendoza searched online for plane tickets from New York to the Dominican Republic, which is where he was from,” Beljean told reporters in a video shared by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on Facebook.
The prosecutor also said the former officer had then searched for the “top five countries” with no extradition treaties within the U.S. while discussing his behavior after the shooting, saying he “immediately searched” for flights to Havana, Cuba, after learning that was one of the countries.
“This was a shocking crime,” Beljean told reporters while referencing Siderio being “on his hands and knees” when he was shot, saying there was “no evidence” the boy knew the four men he shot at that day were police officers because they were in plain clothes.
“That was a fair, just and equitable sentencing in this case,” Beljean insisted of the sentencing during the media briefing. Mendoza had initially been charged with first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in Siderio’s shooting.
