Sheltering in place wasn’t an option for him.
A judge has rejected a deputy’s claim that he had no duty to confront the gunman during the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Refusing to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the parent of a victim, Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning found after a hearing Wednesday that ex-deputy Scot Peterson did have a duty to protect those inside the school where 17 people died and 17 were wounded on Feb. 14. Video and other evidence shows Peterson, the only armed officer at the school, remained outside while shots rang out.
The negligence lawsuit was filed by Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed. He said it made no sense for Peterson’s attorneys to argue that a sworn law enforcement officer with a badge and a gun had no requirement to go inside.
“Then what is he doing there?” Pollack said after the ruling. “He had a duty. I’m not going to let this go. My daughter, her death is not going to be in vain.”
Peterson attorney Michael Piper said he understands that people might be offended or outraged at his client’s defense, but he argued that as a matter of law, the deputy had no duty to confront the shooter. Peterson did not attend the hearing.
“There is no legal duty that can be found,” Piper said. “At its very worst, Scot Peterson is accused of being a coward. That does not equate to bad faith.”
Meanwhile, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, which is investigating the shooting, heavily criticized the Broward school district Wednesday for not having a universal policy for calling a “Code Red” – the term for immediately locking down classrooms because an active shooter is on campus – and little training for staff and students.
Commission members meeting in Tallahassee said that contributed to no one calling a Code Red until more than three minutes after the first shots were fired. By that time, 15 people were fatally shot inside the three-story freshman building and the last two victims were in the shooter’s sights. Nikolas Cruz, 20, a former student with mental health issues, has been charged with the shooting.
“I am extremely dismayed that the people around this table and behind the scenes are taking this much more seriously than Broward County,” said commissioner Melissa Larkin-Skinner, the Florida chief executive officer for a mental health treatment group. “It makes me physically ill. … I am sitting here and getting more and more pissed off by the minute.”
Broward school officials did not return a call and email Wednesday seeking comment.