Pitt slams lawsuit from ex-officer seeking reinstatement

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The University of Pittsburgh police department says it has no plans to rehire a former university police officer later acquitted in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager.

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 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 a 17-year who was bolting from a car during a traffic stop. The officer was acquitted of homicide charges, claiming Antwon Rose II or another person had pointed a gun at him.

Protests followed both the shooting 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.