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PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - The fallout of the Michael Rosfeld not guilty verdict continues to reverberate through the community and across the country with a number of protests breaking out since Friday evening.
Lawyer and PA State Representative Summer Lee says she participated in protests in support of Antwon Rose, who lived in her district, and other young African American men who have been killed, in her opinion unjustly, by police across the country and while protesting is important she believes the next step is legislative action.
“For me recognizing that as time passes our strategies have to adjust and they have to change and now I’m a legislator,” the Allegheny County Democrat said. “Understanding that we can craft a legislative agenda and strategy and that we can tackle laws, that is I believe the next frontier and I believe it’s what all of our organizing strategies should encompass.”
Lee says their efforts are not aimed at any one case in particular but preventing the next Antwon Rose type death from happening.
“We’re fighting to ensure that a police officer does not feel that they are justified in shooting and putting a bullet in a child’s back,” said Lee. “If they’re not tried and convicted of the offense that they did, murder, then it gives license to other police officers to now do that.
Lee adds the problem is a national issue, but she believes Pennsylvania can be “a place where we can lead this, where we can take a stance and say that we are no longer going to be accepting of this.”
The legislation Lee wants to see will police held accountable like any other citizen but also wants to use legislation to protect law enforcement.
“There are very specific and intentional ways that we can hold them accountable, that will protect communities, that will protect vulnerable populations but also will protect police officers and departments.
One of the things that Lee wants to see done is a state-wide data base created that would keep track of any police misconduct so the officer could not transfer to another department without the accused or convicted conduct being known.
“That is just common sense,” said Lee. “If you’re a lawyer, if you’re a nurse, if you’re in any other field there are data bases that show disciplinary actions that we’ve had. People across the country can look me up, if I’m fired or suspended from the bar, someone can look me up and they can know that. The same should be for police officers.”
Lee says some other things that can be done are making sure it is a crime to shoot an unarmed person running away in the back and “If a police officer who experience traumas who fires a weapon, they can fire their firearm and they don’t have to be tested for drugs, alcohol or steroid use,” said Lee. “There are so many measures we can take to ensure that police officers are being treated and held accountable like everybody else.”
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