Antwon Rose Killing: Civil Rights Attorney Involved In Case

PITTSBURGH, PA - The attorney representing Antwon Rose’s family in the aftermath of his shooting death by an East Pittsburgh police officer rapidly is becoming one of the most prominent federal civil rights litigators in the country.

Philadelphia-based S. Lee Merritt last year was named one of the nation’s 100 most influential African-Americans ages 25 to 45 by The Root. The online magazine had this to say about the 2012 graduate of Temple University’s School of Law: “Merritt is emerging as a new leader in the fight for racial justice, standing on the front line of making sure people know that black lives matter.”

Merritt began speaking on behalf of the Rose family shortly after the 17-year-old Woodland Hills High School student was shot by East Pittsburgh officer Michael Rosfeld Tuesday while fleeing from a traffic stop. Police had stopped the vehicle Rose was in because it matched the description of one that had been involved in a drive-by shooting earlier that evening in a neighboring community.

Among the prominent cases in which Merritt has been involved:

• Merritt has represented the family of Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old black youth fatally shot by a police officer in Texas last year. He was shot in the back of the head while riding in a vehicle that was leaving a party. Like Rose, Edwards was unarmed. The police officer, Roy Oliver, was fired and has been charged with murder. His trial is scheduled for August.

• He has represented DeAndre Harris, who last year was attacked in a parking garage next to the police headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the Unite the Right rally. Harris, 20, a former special education instructional assistant, suffered a spinal injury, a broken arm and head lacerations requiring eight staples.

Four men were arrested in the assault and two have been convicted. Harris was acquitted of assaulting Harold Crews, chairman of North Carolina’s League of the South, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group.

• He has represented Marlin Gipson, a black college student attacked by a K-9 dog in Houston after being stopped by a white officer for distributing business cards for his lawn mowing service.

Merritt did not immediately return a phone message from Patch on Friday, but has made several public statements on behalf of Rose’s family and also is communicating via social media.

“I sat with Michelle Kenney (Antwon’s mom) for hours last night as we discussed the life of Antwon Rose,” Merritt tweeted Thursday. “Neither of us slept very much. We woke up early and started a memorial fund in his honor. We are in it for the long haul. We want #JusticeforAntwon.”

Image via Shutterstock.

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