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By RAMESH SANTANAM Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case Thursday against a white former police officer charged with homicide for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager.
Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld's trial continues into a third day in a Pittsburgh courtroom.
The first two days of testimony included compelling statements from witnesses and neighbors, one of whom said he heard Rosfeld panicking after the June 2018 shooting, repeatedly saying, "I don't know why I shot him. I don't know why I fired."
Rosfeld fired three bullets into 17-year-old Antwon Rose II in June after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rose was a front-seat passenger in the cab and was shot as he fled.
John Leach, who lives close to the site of the shooting, said Wednesday he was on his front porch when Rosfeld fired three bullets into Rose.
Leach said he saw other officers consoling Rosfeld as he was bent over hyperventilating.
Rosfeld's attorney said the officer was justified in the shooting and did nothing wrong.
After the prosecution rests its case, the defense is expected to call an expert witness on use of deadly force.
In his opening statements earlier this week, defense attorney Patrick Thomassey described the area where the shooting happened as a high-crime area.
"You have to make, as a police officer, a split-second decision. You hesitate, you die," he told the jury. He said Rosfeld was "a policeman who did his duty."
Police have said Rosfeld changed his story about whether he saw or believed a gun was in Rose's hands. Authorities said two guns were found in the car, one with Rose's DNA on it, but it doesn't appear to have been fired. An empty magazine was found in Rose's pocket.
Witness Patrick Shattuck said Wednesday he was standing outside a senior center when Rosfeld pulled over the unlicensed cab in front of the building. About five minutes after the shooting, Shattuck said Rosfeld entered the building and said, "Why did he do that? Why did he do that? Why did he take that out of his pocket?"
East Pittsburgh Mayor Louis J. Payne, who was also there, said he, too, heard Rosfeld say, "Why did he do that?" but said he didn't hear the comment about the pocket.
The video of the shooting, recorded by a neighbor, was posted online, triggering protests in the Pittsburgh area last year.
A jury of six men and six women was selected and will be sequestered in a hotel for the duration of the trial, expected to take a week or more.
Additional video, where another police car approaching and the sound of gunshots is visible, was shown in court, taken by a college student who was in his car at a stop sign nearby.
Rose had been riding in the front seat of the unlicensed taxi when Hester, in the backseat, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street.
Hester pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated assault and firearms violations for the shooting, which wounded a man in the abdomen. The 18-year-old told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting.
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