A Pennsylvania police officer was charged with one count of criminal homicide in the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy in East Pittsburgh who was fleeing a traffic stop, according to court records released today.
Officer Michael Rosfeld was listed in a criminal complaint that says the officer first told investigators that 17-year-old Antwon Rose turned his hand toward him when he ran from the car and he “saw something dark he perceived as a gun.”
In another account, Rosfeld told investigators he did not see a gun and he was not sure if the teen’s arm was pointed at him when he fired.
“You cannot take someone’s life under these circumstances,” Allegheny District Attorney Stephen Zappala said at a news conference today.
The 30-year-old officer turned himself in this morning, was arraigned and released on $250,000 bond. Rosfeld, who was just sworn in hours before the shooting, is scheduled for his first court appearance on July 6, according to the District Attorney’s office.
Criminal homicide includes any instance when someone knowingly, intentionally, recklessly or negligently causes the death of another person, which is included in the charges of murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Investigators said Rosfeld stopped a car carrying Rose and two other people because it matched the description of a car reported to be involved in a shooting about 15 minutes earlier in a nearby town. As Rosfeld took the driver into custody, a video posted on Facebook by a bystander shows Rose and another running away.
Rosfeld quickly fired three shots, all of which struck Rose, who died from his injuries at the hospital. Zappala said the unarmed teen was struck in the face, right elbow and mid-back with bullets.
TheSource.com will bring more details from this story as it develops.
