Mendoza had been charged with first and third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of Thomas “T.J.” Siderio in March 2022.
Philadelphia District Attorney’s office previously said that video contradicted the officer’s version of events. Police have said the boy had first fired a shot at an unmarked police car, injuring one of four plainclothes officers inside.
Siderio threw a gun down about 40 feet (12 meters) before he was shot and then dropped to the ground, either tripping or obeying a command to get down.
The four officers had been in an unmarked car, looking for a teenager they wanted to interview related to a firearm probe. They saw Siderio and a 17-year-old, and moved the car around the block next to them to initiate a stop.
Almost at the same time, prosecutors said, the officers turned their red and blue lights on, a shot came through the back passenger window and ricocheted around the car. One officer's eye and face was hurt by broken glass.
Mendoza and another officer on the passenger side got out and fired one shot each. Mendoza then chased Siderio down the block, firing twice and striking the boy once in the back from what prosecutors say was “relatively close range.”
Mendoza, a five-year veteran of the force, was fired a week after the shooting by then-Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, who said his conduct violated department policy.
Siderio’s family sued Mendoza and the city in January, saying his death was the result of “an abysmal systemic policy failure” within the police department.
Edsaul Mendoza also pleaded guilty to possession of an instrument of crime as part of a plea deal with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. A sentencing date has not been disclosed.
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