Judge dismisses ex-cop Rosfeld’s complaint against Pitt over job
A judge has dismissed a federal lawsuit brought by former University of Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld against Pitt on the grounds he resigned willingly and was not coerced.
U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote in an opinion Monday that Mr. Rosfeld’s complaint will be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t be filed again.
The judge, who had already dismissed the case once before, said Mr. Rosfeld again failed to state a claim for relief after leaving his job at Pitt.
“In short, while defendants may well have been required to provide Mr. Rosfeld with due process before terminating him, his unprompted decision to resign instead relieved them of that obligation,” the judge wrote. “Thus, the court will again grant defendants’ motion to dismiss, this time with prejudice.”
Mr. Rosfeld was an East Pittsburgh police officer when he was charged with shooting 17-year-old Antwon Rose II on June 19, 2018. He was later acquitted, leading to street protests.
He had been a Pitt officer before that and claimed in his lawsuit the university terminated him because he had filed charges against the son of a Pitt official after an altercation involving several men at an Oakland bar in December 2017.
Mr. Rosfeld said he was placed on administrative leave and then told in writing at police headquarters on Jan. 18, 2018, that he was being terminated.
He said he wasn’t told why he
He said he wasn’t told why he was being fired but believed it was because of the bar incident.
In his complaint, Mr. Rosfeld said the “extreme duress” created by the situation coerced him into requesting resignation rather than being terminated.
Pitt police allowed him to resign.
But Mr. Rosfeld said in his suit that his due process rights were violated because Pitt didn’t provide him with notice of the charges against him, an explanation of the evidence or an opportunity to respond. He said those failures violated the 14th Amendment.
Judge Ranjan, however, said Mr. Rosfeld resigned on his own.
“No one demanded Mr. Rosfeld’s resignation, threatened him if he refused to resign, or, for that matter, even mentioned resignation to him,” the judge ruled. “Rather, it was Mr. Rosfeld himself who ‘immediately requested resignation’ after being told he faced termination.”
The judge said courts considering this issue have held that “something more than the alternative ‘threat’ of termination is required to undermine the presumption that an employee’s resignation is voluntary.”
Mr. Rosfeld had originally filed suit in state court in January, and the case was removed to federal court in February. It was dismissed in May but without prejudice, after which Mr. Rosfeld filed an amended complaint.
Mr. Rosfeld’s shooting of Antwon Rose led to marches that at one point shut down the Parkway East.
Antwon had been a passenger in a car that Mr. Rosfeld had stopped following a drive-by shooting moments earlier in North Braddock. After the stop, Antwon ran from the car. Mr. Rosfeld shot him three times in the back.
The incident was recorded on a cellphone. The district attorney’s office charged Mr. Rosfeld with homicide.
After a four-day trial, an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court jury acquitted him on March 22, 2019.