Antwon Rose Shooting: Rosfeld Homicide Trial Begins

PITTSBURGH, PA - Calm prevailed in the city during the first day of the racially charged homicide trial of a white former police officer who killed a black teen fleeing from a traffic stop last June.

Former East Pittsburgh Officer Michael Rosfeld shot Antwon Rose II 19 as the Woodland Hills High School student was running from a vehicle Rosfeld pulled over because it had been involved in a drive-by shooting minutes before in North Braddock.

Rose, 17, was unarmed when he was shot and authorities have said Rose didn't fire any shots during the drive-by. Another passenger in the vehicle, Zaijuan Hester, 17, was charged in the North Braddock shooting.

In opening arguments, Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Dan Fitzsimmons told jurors that what matters in the case is what Rosfeld knew and what he thought when he shot Rose, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey told jurors that Rosfeld didn’t awake the morning of the fatal encounter thinking he was going to shoot someone. According to the Post- Gazette, he reminded jurors that police officers have to make split-second decisions and “you hesitate, you die.”

Thomassey also said that Rose was “complicit in the drive-by shooting even if he didn’t pull the trigger. The defense attorney also questioned why Rose fled the traffic stop.

The first witnesses to testify in the trial were forensic pathologist Abdulrezak Al-Shakir, North Braddock police Sgt. Brian Hodges and Allegheny County police Detective Thomas Foley.

Before the trial got underway Tuesday, Rose’s family released a statement through their attorney, Fred G. Rabner:

“June 19th is a day the family of Antwon Rose II will sadly never forget — the day a hair-triggered, overly aggressive, Officer Rosfeld, gunned their Antwon down in the back as he posed no risk whatsoever to the continuously firing Rosfeld. Within an instant, their son, brother, grandson and friend – their brightest light, Antwon – was extinguished.

“Today, Antwon’s family is here seeking the justice they so deserve and to assure that the light of Antwon’s memory shines forever.”

Security was tight at the Allegheny County Courthouse and several nearby streets have been closed to vehicular traffic for the duration of the trial.

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