PITTSBURGH (AP) - The parents of an unarmed black teenager fatally shot while fleeing a traffic stop outside Pittsburgh filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the police officer charged in the shooting.
The lawsuit filed in federal court late Wednesday named East Pittsburgh Officer Michael Rosfeld and the borough of East Pittsburgh, as well as its mayor and chief of police. The lawsuit alleges that the decisions that led to the death of Antwon Rose Jr. started at the top with a lack of vetting and a lack of training for officers hired by the borough, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh.
Rose’s parents, Michelle Kenney and Antwon Rose Sr., alleged that Rosfeld used excessive and deadly force in the June 19 shooting. Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide after police investigators said he gave conflicting accounts of whether he saw a gun and whether Rose had pointed his arm at the officer.
Witnesses said the 17-year-old showed his hands. Investigators have said Rose was unarmed, and had no involvement in an earlier drive-by shooting that led to the traffic stop.
Rosfeld waived a preliminary hearing late last month and will be in court for arraignment on Aug. 22. His attorney in the criminal charges has said he plans to present a defense that the shooting was justified. It was unclear if Rosfeld had an attorney in the civil case.
The lawsuit alleges the plaintiffs, “had a duty, but failed to implement and or enforce policies, practices and procedures for the (police department) that respected Antwon M. Rose, II’s constitutional right to assistance and protection.”
Attorney Fred Rabner, who represents Rose’s family, said that a cursory check of Rosfeld’s records should have been enough to prevent his hiring because of allegations of previous issues at the University of Pittsburgh. A separate federal lawsuit has been filed against Rosfeld by three men involved in an off-campus fight in December alleging wrongful arrest.
“Defendant East Pittsburgh, has admitted that it has no official policies in place to govern police conduct, the manner in which investigations of critical incidents, such as officer involved shootings, must be conducted, and the hiring of new officers to the force,” Rabner wrote in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.
Messages left for the borough solicitor were not immediately returned Thursday.
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