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Michelle Kenney, center, mother of Antwon Rose II, arrives at Allegheny County Courthouse with supporters on the second day of the trial of Michael Rosfeld, former East Pittsburgh Police Officer ( Pennsylvania), Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Rosfeld is accused of homicide for the fatal killing of Antwon Rose II during the shootout during the traffic disruption on June 19, 2018. (Photo AP / Gene J. Puskar)
PITTSBURGH – A witness of the shooting of a black teenager unarmed by a white policeman said Wednesday he saw the policeman standing on the sidewalk panicking saying, "I do not know why I shot him. not why I shot. "
The trial of former East Pittsburgh police officer, Michael Rosfeld, continued on Wednesday in a second day, in a Pittsburgh courtroom, where three witnesses were called to appear during the morning appearance.
John Leach, a neighbor who lives a few houses from the location where the June shootout took place, said that he was standing under the porch when Rosfeld fired three shots at Anton Rose, aged 17. years after intercepting a taxi without a license suspected of being killed. used in a drive-by minutes of shooting earlier. Rose was a front passenger in the cabin and was shot while he was running away.
Rosfeld, 30, faces a charge of criminal homicide.
Leach, the second witness to testify on Wednesday, said that after the shooting, he stood next to Rose's body and watched Rosfeld on the nearby sidewalk repeating, "I do not know why I shot him. I do not know why I shot. "
He later said that he had seen other policemen comforting Rosfeld while he was crying, that he was bending over and that he was hyperventilating. He said Rosfeld seemed about to faint.
Leach said he saw Rosfeld aim a gun at Rose while at least one of his hands was in the air. Then Rose turned and ran, he said.
The defense attorney, Patrick Thomassey, said that Rosfeld had no intention of shooting anyone that day and that he had nothing hurt during his fatal meeting with Rose.
"You think Michael Rosfeld got up on June 19 and thought he was going to shoot at someone? Of course not," he said.
Prosecutors said Rosfeld had made conflicting statements about the shooting, including stating that he thought Rose had a rifle.
The video of the shooting, shot by neighbor Lashaun Livingston, went online, triggering protests in the Pittsburgh area last year, including a night walk that closed a major highway.
A jury consisting of six men and six women, including three African-Americans, was selected in the state of Harrisburg last week and will be held in a Pittsburgh hotel for the duration of the trial, which is expected to last one week or so. more.
An additional video was screened in court by a student from the University of Pittsburgh who was in his car at a stop sign located about 183 meters (600 feet) away, the defense said. . Peyton Deri said that he could not really know if there was anything in the hands of Rose or the other occupant of the vehicle, Zaijuan Hester.
The families of Rose and Rosfeld were in the audience hall on Tuesday.
Rose's mother sent a letter Wednesday to prosecutors urging them to oppose her son's defense representation as "just another thug".
In the letter, she asks prosecutors to paint a picture of her son as he really was.
"It was a rose made of concrete, despite the darkness that surrounded him, he was kind, loving and funny," she wrote in a letter dated Tuesday. "The smile that comes out of the photos of him really reflects who he was."
She then describes how he taught the other children in the neighborhood to rollerblade and skateboard and even gave his skates to children in need.
Rose was sitting at the front of the taxi without a license when Hester, at the back, dropped a window and shot two men in the street.
Hester, 18, of Swissvale, pleaded guilty Friday for serious assault and gun violation for the shooting, which injured a man in the abdomen. Hester told a judge that it was he who had shot, not Rose.
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