Police officer charged with killing 17-year-old Antwon Rose faced new judge for status hearing

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Michael Rosfeld, the East Pittsburgh police officer charged with criminal homicide for fatally shooting 17-year-old Antwon Rose, was in court on Wednesday for a status hearing.

The status hearing was held by Allegheny County Judge Alexander Bicket, who agreed on Wednesday to allow Rosfeld and his attorney to review 500 pages of documents and 41 discs with information, according to Pittsburgh’s WTAE. Bicket also granted Rosfeld’s lawyer additional time to prepare.

Rose was shot three times and killed in June while running away from a vehicle that Rosfeld had pulled over because the car was suspected of being linked to a drive-by shooting in North Braddock, according to Allegheny County police.

Rosfeld is on unpaid leave from the East Pittsburgh Police Department. While he awaits trial, he is on house arrest with electronic monitoring.

In August, Rose’s family, filed a federal lawsuit against the borough of East Pittsburgh, Rosfeld, Mayor Louis Payne and Police Chief Lori Fruncek, alleging wrongful death.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for Rose’s family point out an alleged failure on the police department’s behalf for lack of policies and procedures to train police officers in the borough, according to Trib Live. The lawsuit states that Rosfeld failed to wait for police backup units to arrive once he had pulled the vehicle over, instead, he “immediately drew his weapon and began to shout menacing and hostile orders at the occupants of the vehicle, including Rose.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Rosfeld’s tone was hostile, that he failed to give verbal commands to Rose to stop before shooting, that he shot him three times and that he never administered immediate  medical aid after Rose was shot.

Lawyers on both sides will determine a schedule for the next court appearance.

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