PITTSBURGH — The foreman of a jury that acquitted a white Pennsylvania police officer of homicide said Michael Rosfeld did not know the black teen he shot was unarmed and that his decision to run after his vehicle was pulled over factored into the verdict.

Juror Jesse Rawls Sr. told WHTM-TV that Antwon Rose II and another occupant who ran from the stop “brought it on themselves” and that the then-East Pittsburgh officer knew there had just been a drive-by shooting and was scared.

“It’s a felony stop,” Rawls said. “Once it’s a felony stop, you have to take precautions.” He said Rosfeld could not let the occupants get away, and “he didn’t know what the kid had.”

Rawls, 72, who is black, is a retired schoolteacher and wrestling coach from Harrisburg, where jurors were picked for last week’s trial in Pittsburgh.

He said jurors “did what was right” in acquitting Rosfeld of all charges Friday. The verdict has prompted protests over four days, including hundreds of high school and college students marching Monday in downtown Pittsburgh. Rawls was among three African-Americans on the 12-person jury. Rosfeld was responding to a report of a drive-by shooting in nearby North Braddock in June when he saw a vehicle that matched the description — an unlicensed taxi in which Rose was a passenger.

As Rosfeld was dealing with the driver, Rose and the other passenger got out and ran. Video captured Rosfeld shooting Rose three times. “If the kids wouldn’t have jumped out and ran, they would have never been in the situation,” Rawls said.