East Pittsburgh police officer charged with criminal homicide after shooting unarmed black teenager News
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East Pittsburgh police officer charged with criminal homicide after shooting unarmed black teenager

East Pittsburgh police [official website] officer Michael Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide Wednesday after fatally shooting Antwon Rose Jr. on June 19 during a traffic stop.

The complaint [complaint, PDF], filed by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office [official website] cited multiple witness reports, a video of the shooting uploaded to various social media outlets, and Rosfeld’s reputation as reasons for filing charges. The video shows Rose being shot as he was running with another man from Rosefeld.

Rosfeld was previously employed by the University of Pittsburgh Police Department, leaving on January 18 after an incident [PIttsburgh Post-Gazette report] in which an affidavit filed by Rosfeld describing an assault arrest at a bar did not match evidence gathered by other law enforcement. Rosfeld joined the East Pittsburgh Police Department in May and was sworn in three hours prior to shooting Rose.

The charges follow a wave of protests across the Pittsburgh region over Rose’s death.

This most recent criminal complaint follows a string of notable police involved shootings, which some say are racially-motivated, including the death of Michael Brown in 2014 [JURIST report]. In September a circuit judge acquitted a St. Louis police officer accused of murdering a black man after a high speed chase. In May of last year a Balch Springs police officer was charged [JURIST report] with the murder of high school student Jordan Edwards.

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