![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790124370_977_e10fc6e0-d31b-470d-98c4-cdb0fb15b09a_1755931569.jpeg\")
<\/a>NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\nAs of Monday night, Nathaniel Cochran is not an officer for the New Kensington Police Department.<\/p>\n
Cochran’s resignation was unanimously approved by New Kensington City Council after he was placed on administrative leave more than a month ago.<\/p>\n
However, he is still under investigation by the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office. It stems from an arrest in late July that left the suspect hospitalized. <\/p>\n
Amanda Shields represents Anthony Delarosa. The 55-year-old and another man allegedly tried to break into a New Kensington home July 27.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Officer Cochran\u2019s resignation speaks for itself,\u201d Shields said. \u201cMy client walked away from the interaction with a broken nose, a broken orbital bone and bruised ribs, and scratches and bruises all over his face. This is not the first time that, in a criminal case, I have dealt with any sort of potential excessive force.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Delarosa\u2019s criminal complaint, when Cochran arrived, Delarosa allegedly resisted arrest and attempted to bite him. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked Delarosa 20 times, put your hands behind your back, you’re under arrest,” Thomassey said. “Now keep in mind, they\u2019re in the middle of committing a felony and that’s his job to arrest him.\u201d <\/p>\n
Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n Thomassey claims that due to Rule 508 in Pennsylvania State Criminal procedure, his client did what he had to do to make an arrest. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no question here that the arrest was valid,\u201d the attorney said. \u201cThese guys were trying to break into a house. There\u2019s no deadly force used in this. Mr. Delarosa keeps resisting arrest. He\u2019s using whatever force he deems necessary, and under these circumstances, that\u2019s what I think occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomassey added that Cochran\u2019s recent resignation is not a sign of guilt.<\/p>\n \u201cWould you want to do it?\u201d Cochran\u2019s attorney asked. \u201cWho\u2019s got your back when you make an arrest and something like this happens, and all of a sudden, you\u2019re the bad guy? A lot of police officers today are tired of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Delarosa is charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and loitering and prowling at night. While Cochran is under investigation by the district attorney\u2019s office, he has not been charged.<\/p>\n \u201cI would hope that District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli would do the right thing and withdraw these charges considering Officer Cochran’s lack of credibility,\u201d Shields said.<\/p>\n “He’s a good man,\u201d Thomassey said about Cochran. \u201cI hope the district attorney sees her way to say what he did under these circumstances was justified. When a police officer says to put your hands behind your back to be handcuffed, you\u2019re not supposed to say no. You\u2019re supposed to comply. These guys have a very difficult job to do. They need to be defended. They\u2019re out on the streets, and we\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n New Kensington city officials and those with the district attorney’s office declined to comment on the investigation. <\/p>\n Delarosa is due back in court on his charges in November.<\/p>\n Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Kensington officer resigns amid police brutality investigation NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. \u2014 As of Monday night, Nathaniel Cochran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[121045,1646,4737,7472,454,5848,24438,1021,14089,2092,121044,17799,2008,4042,28,30,29,61760,2296,910,121046],"class_list":["post-291919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-anthony-delarosa","tag-arrest","tag-attorney","tag-back","tag-charge","tag-first-time","tag-guy","tag-investigation","tag-monday-night","tag-more-news","tag-nathaniel-cochran","tag-new-kensington","tag-office","tag-officer","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-police-brutality","tag-police-officer","tag-resignation","tag-thomassey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}