Peduto: Officer should be charged in teen’s shooting death
Other leaders also call for jury trial
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Policymakers, including Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, urged Monday that criminal charges be filed against the suburban police officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old boy last week, echoing the demands of demonstrators who are expected to protest again Tuesday.
“I don’t see how we as a community — as black individuals who’ve seen this happen too many times — can begin a healing process” before prosecutors file charges, said city Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, a member of the Pittsburgh BlackElected Officials Coalition. “I don’t think we should be expected to get beyond it until charges have been brought, either.”
The five-member coalition and Mr. Peduto called for a jury trial for East Pittsburgh Officer Michael Rosfeld, 30, who began working for the borough in May. He opened fire June 19 on Antwon Rose II of Rankin when the teenager fled from a traffic stop.
Antwon was a passenger in a vehicle matching a description from a drive-by shooting 13 minutes earlier in North Braddock, Allegheny County Police have said. District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. won’t publicly address the investigation “until after the grieving process,” spokesman Mike Manko said. Antwon’s funeral was held Monday.
“We did not put a specific time frame on that last week and still have not,” Mr. Manko said Monday. “That is still his intention.”
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Antwon’s family, said Sunday that the family also wants Officer Rosfeld to face criminal charges and is considering civil litigation. An attorney for the officer could not be reached Monday.
Speaking at a business conference on diversity, Mr. Peduto called justice an imperative.
“There’s a system of rules that has to be applied, and justice has to be the guiding light in making it happen,” the mayor said at the Corporate Equity and Inclusion Roundtable event at Duquesne University. “In this case, that means going to trial.”
Later, Mr. Peduto told reporters that a trial should follow any incident when an officer kills an unarmed person leaving a potential crime scene.
He said he did not intend to discuss the matter with Mr. Zappala because the fatal shooting occurred beyond city borders in East Pittsburgh.
Still, demonstrations stemming from Antwon’s death moved through several city neighborhoods last week, including the North Shore and South Side Flats. The Peduto administration has backed protesters’ ability to assemble, with city police often working alongside activists to control traffic and limit confrontation.
At a march Friday, police on motorcycles stayed a block or so ahead of participants to separate them and traffic. As the crowd moved forward, motorcycles dropped back. Police vehicles kept to either end of the Roberto Clemente Bridge as marchers stopped mid-span before heading toward PNC Park during a Pirates game.
On Saturday night, demonstrators assembled on the South Side. There, officers aimed to prevent protesters from walking down the middle of East Carson Street, citing worries the march would clash with bar customers, said Brandi Fisher, founder of the Alliance for Police Accountability. She said police were aggressive with protesters.
“I’d propose you take all these officers you have here protecting your property on the South Side and instead protect the protesters and line the sidewalks in front of the bars so the drunk people can’t come out and mess with them,” Ms. Fisher said Monday. “That would be you protecting the freedom of speech.”
The city Department of Public Safety said it anticipates that protests will resume Tuesday. Told of Ms. Fisher’s criticism, a spokesman deferred to a statement indicating that police have upheld “protesters’ First Amendment rights while also ensuring public safety.”
“We have reported only one arrest during the protests, for a motorist who incited the crowd Friday night on East Ohio Street” on the North Side, the statement read in part. “In several instances, police have formed human barricades to protect protesters from counter-protesters.”
The statement also said that beginning Tuesday, city police officers would start working 12-hour shifts instead of the normal eight hours “to assure we maintain proper staffing levels to keep the city safe.”
Mr. Peduto said his administration is studying fallout from police-involved fatalities in other places, including Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo. “The escalation of force and the escalation of body armor led to more violence, not less,” he said. “We don’t want to make the same mistakes.”
Specifically, he said, his approach is to allow protest gatherings within public rights of way and encourage communication between organizers and city officials. He called it a “razor-thin balance between First Amendment rights and public safety.”
Mr. Peduto expects protest activity to continue through the summer, including at major events, he said.
“We support the protests and want to see peaceful demonstration,” he said. “But, at the same time, we have a responsibility of keeping the public safe.”