Deputy Acquitted for Not Confronting Parkland Gunman
Deputy Acquitted for Not Confronting Parkland Gunman
On Thursday, a former Florida sheriff’s deputy who failed to confront the gunman at a Parkland high school five years ago was acquitted of child maltreatment and other charges.
Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, was acquitted of seven counts of child maltreatment and three of culpable negligence for the deaths and injuries of 10 persons on the third story of the building where the shooting happened. He was acquitted of perjury for telling police he heard only a few gunshots and saw no children fleeing.
After the shooting, critics—including some police officers—portrayed Mr. Peterson as too terrified to approach a highly armed assailant. Mr. Peterson became a morality story about cowardice and law enforcement’s duty to protect children when the Parkland community was appalled by his conduct. The father of one victim begged him to “rot in hell,” while national media called him the “coward in Broward.”
A former student shot 17 persons and wounded 17. In the same courtroom where Mr. Peterson was acquitted Thursday, the gunman was sentenced to life in prison last year. Mr. Peterson was the only armed resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
Mr. Peterson, 60, sobbing in a downtown Fort Lauderdale courthouse as Judge Martin S. Fein of the Broward County Circuit Court read the verdict. As jurors left, Mr. Peterson nodded and thanked them.
“We’ve got our life back after four and a half years,” Mr. Peterson said outside the courthouse. “It’s been a long emotional roller coaster.”
The trial was considered to be the first in the nation against a police officer for inaction during a mass shooting, and a conviction may have led to charges against other law enforcement officers. Uvalde, Texas, police are being probed for waiting over an hour before entering two Robb Elementary School classrooms during a May 2022 shooting that killed 21 people.
From the start, analysts thought Florida prosecutors had long odds. They sought to convince jurors that Mr. Peterson was a “carer” accountable for student welfare since they charged him with child negligence. The judge questioned the claim that the former deputy’s inaction “caused” injury.
“This is not just a victory for Scot,” his defence counsel Mark Eiglarsh remarked. “Every law enforcement officer in this country who does their best every day wins. How dare prosecutors question honourable, respectable police officers?
Broward State Attorney’s Office suffered its second Parkland shooting loss. The gunman was sentenced to life instead of execution by prosecutors.
“For the first time in our nation’s history, prosecutors in this case have tried to hold an armed school resource officer responsible for not doing his job,” Democratic state attorney Harold F. Pryor said after the Peterson judgement. “We did so because we think it’s important not only to our community but to the country.”
After a two-and-a-half-week trial, the three-woman, three-man jury concluded that Mr. Peterson, who did not testify, was not “responsible for a child’s welfare.”
Mr. Peterson called the verdict a massacre. “That monster was solely responsible.”
In conclusion, while the jury’s decision in Mr. Peterson’s trial may have acquitted him of responsibility for a child’s welfare, it has sparked important discussions and concerns about child welfare, the efficacy of the legal system, and the need for reforms. This case serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges we face in protecting and prioritizing the well-being of children, not only within our community but throughout the entire nation.
