Antwon Rose's Family Wants Immediate Charges Against Officer Michael Rosfeld
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The family of Antwon Rose Jr. is calling for criminal charges to be filed against the East Pittsburgh Police officer who fatally shot him, Michael Rosfeld.
The family's attorney wants Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala to file charges as soon as Tuesday, but there are members of the law enforcement community who want the investigation to run its course.
The Rose family attorney says the cell phone video of the shooting is all the evidence that's needed to issue an arrest warrant for Rosfeld.
"I think anyone can look at this video and say that was unnecessary. It was inconsistent with this officer's training, it was inconsistent with police procedure, and inconsistent with the constitution," said attorney Lee Merritt.
He also chided Zappala for not doing so.
"It's typical for district attorneys, but I believe that it's because of their unique relationship with law enforcement, they have to go out of their way not to take a position, particularly when that position may be against police officers that they work with every day," said Merritt.
Zappala will not put a timeframe on the investigation and says he'll have no comment until the funeral and the grieving process are over; but ultimately, it will be his decision whether criminal charges are filed.
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FOP Lodge 91 President Henry Weihagen says Zappala should wait until the investigation is complete.
"You know we're a country of laws. You don't string him up and decide whether he did right or wrong afterwards. You wait until all the evidence is in and see… let the evidence take us where it takes us," he said.
Charges have not been filed in several high profile cases such as the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York, but last year a jury did convict a South Carolina officer for shooting Walter Scott in the back as he was running away.
KDKA's Andy Sheehan: "So people looking at this video say the suspect was running away and posed no imminent threat to the officer."
Weihagen: "Yeah, but we don't know that, because a lot times, the video don't show everything."
But Merritt issued something of a warning.
"When there's probable cause or enough evidence to establish probable cause of a crime, a warrant should be issued and an arrest should be made. If that's not done by Tuesday, we'll talk about strategies to ensure that that happens," Merritt said.
