School: No plan to rehire cop involved in black teen’s death

PITTSBURGH (AP) — There are no plans to rehire a former University of Pittsburgh police officer who was later acquitted in the shooting death of a black teenager, the school’s police department said.

The department said in a Twitter post Sunday that the university is “vigorously opposing” the federal suit filed in January by 32-year-old Michael Rosfeld, who alleged that he was forced from his position in retaliation for arresting a university official’s son outside a bar in December 2017.

Rosfeld, while working for the East Pittsburgh department, shot and killed Antwon Rose II, a 17-year who ran away from a car during a traffic stop. The officer was acquitted of homicide charges, claiming Rose or another person had pointed a gun at him.

Officials say two handguns were found inside the car Rose had been riding in. District Attorney Stephen Zappala said an empty gun clip was found in Rose’s pocket.

Protests followed both Rose’s death and the March 2019 verdict.

Among the demands of Rosfeld’s lawsuit against the university is his immediate reinstatement as a university police officer, a job he held from October 2012 to January 2018.

“Please be assured that the University of Pittsburgh Police Department has no intention of reinstating Michael Rosfeld,” the department said in the Twitter post, calling the lawsuit “baseless.”

East Pittsburgh later disbanded its police force. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last year that a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by Rose’s family was settled for $2 million.