Scot Peterson, the Broward County deputy assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, never entered the school during the mass shooting on Feb. 14, according to multiple reports. Instead, he remained outside while Nikolas Cruz continued his rampage and has been vilified as a coward.
It’s not the first time Peterson’s actions have been questioned.
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In 2015, he was accused of not using common sense and good judgment after criticizing the management of then-chief of Broward County School District’s police department, Anthony Williams, in an email. The email was in regards to the Resident On Campus Security (ROCS) Program at Atlantic Technical College, which Williams wanted to dissolve.
A clip from a school security review in 2015 sees Peterson discussing the program. The department later recommended counseling.
Peterson, 54, who began working for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in 1985, according to USA Today, also was investigated by the department in 1994. He faced a charge of conduct unbecoming of an employee that was later dropped.
After the Feb. 14 shooting, Peterson — a resource officer at the school since 2009 — was suspended without pay, resigning and retiring immediately after. Surveillance had captured him waiting outside the building for four minutes.
Broward Sheriff Scott Israel made the admission at a news conference on Thursday, admitting that Peterson “never went in” to the building where the shooting was taking place. Israel said Peterson should have gone in, “addressed the killer and killed the killer.” Video footage showed Peterson did none of that, Israel revealed.
“I am devastated,” Israel said, via the Miami Herald. “Sick to my stomach. He never went in.”
Photo Credit: Broward County Public Schools
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