By Lexi Belculfine
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH — Jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning in the trial of the man accused of killing Pittsburgh police K-9 Rocco and wounding several officers, including the dog’s handler.
John Rush, 22, is charged with stabbing the 8-year-old German shepherd while police tried to apprehend him Jan. 28 in Lawrenceville.
Police said Rocco, who joined the force in 2008, suffered a 3-inch-deep stab wound that lacerated muscle and his kidney. He died two days later after contracting pneumonia and bleeding from a wound that was unsuccessfully corrected with numerous surgeries.
Rush faces 12 charges, including the felonies of abusing a police animal, disarming a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault and burglary, as well as misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty, resisting arrest and possessing instruments of a crime. He has been held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond since Jan. 29, court records show.
Judge Jill E. Rangos of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court will preside over the trial.
The district attorney’s office has said Rush would have been charged with the felony three count of abuse of a police animal — which carries a fine of up to $15,000 or up to seven years incarceration — regardless of whether Rocco died.
Soon after the dog’s death, a bipartisan state legislative effort stiffened those penalties. Gov. Tom Corbett signed “Rocco’s Law” in July, making torturing or killing a police animal a second-degree felony, punishable by a $25,000 fine and 10 years imprisonment.
“His legacy lives on to protect other K-9 officers,” said Sen. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, who introduced and sponsored the bill, along with others in Allegheny County. The law is not retroactive, so Rush still faces a third-degree felony.
The night Rocco was stabbed, members of the Allegheny County sheriff’s office were searching for Rush, a convicted sex offender, on bench warrants when they spotted him on Butler Street, according to a criminal complaint.
Deputy John Herb confronted Rush, who lunged toward the deputy’s gun and began hitting him, the complaint said. The deputy tried to stop him by using a Taser, but Rush ran into the basement of a home in the 3700 block of Butler Street, police said.
Rocco and his handler, Officer Phil Lerza, were among those who responded to the suspicious person call. Officer Lerza stood by the basement doorway and shouted three times, “Pittsburgh Police K-9" and told the man to “sound off” or the dog would come for him, police wrote. Police said Rush “lunged out from near a pillar and attacked K-9 Rocco,” swinging a knife while the dog tried to bite his upper torso and arm.
Rush, police said, punched Officer Daniel Nowak, who told him he was under arrest, and hit Officer John Baker in the head several times. Officer Lerza sustained a puncture wound to the back and was treated at UPMC Mercy. A fourth officer sustained a knee injury.
According to court records, Rush has a violent background. In 2011, he was charged with indecent assault of a child under 13 years old and pleaded guilty to statutory sex assault, corruption of minors and indecent exposure. A year later, he was arrested for aggravated and simple assault and pleaded guilty to simple assault. He’s also awaiting a March jury trial for charges stemming from a December 2013 robbery, court records show.
A former girlfriend previously told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he was diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia in his adolescence.
The district attorney’s office declined comment. Both a spokesman from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and the public defender assigned to Mr. Rush’s case could not be reached for comment. Suspects sometimes claim self-defense in similar cases to explain why they killed or injured police dogs.
Twenty K-9s were killed in the line of duty in 2014, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. One other K-9, Kye of the Oklahoma City Police Department, died Aug. 25 after being stabbed. According to news reports, his handler fatally shot the man who stabbed Kye.
Rocco was celebrated and mourned as a hero. About 1,200 people attended Rocco’s funeral, where he received full police honors, at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum in Oakland, and a Facebook page, Justice for Rocco, has more than 65,000 likes.
Rick Ashabranner, president of the North American Police Work Dog Association, said losing a K-9 partner is like losing a member of the family.
“The police dog is a police officer just like the one in a uniform, but he’s also a member of the officer’s family,” he said, adding their instinct is to save the life of their partner when asked.
“Dogs do tremendous things for people. They don’t get paychecks. They get food and love. That love is what they work for; just for a ‘good boy,’ ” Mr. Ashabranner said.
Copyright 2014 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette