Judge finds former Deputy Scot Peterson had a legal duty to protect Stoneman Douglas students

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The only armed deputy stationed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the day of Nikolas Cruz's deadly rampage asked a Broward judge on Wednesday to find he had "no legal duty" to protect the students and faculty from harm.

The judge rejected his argument.

Scot Peterson, who resigned from the Broward Sheriff's Office in late February and is accused of shirking his responsibility by hiding instead of confronting Cruz, wanted Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the family of Meadow Pollack, one of 17 people shot and killed in the Parkland school on Feb. 14.

"We want to say he had an obligation, but the law isn't that," said Peterson's lawyer, Michael Piper. "From a legal standpoint, there was no duty."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-finds-former-deputy-scot-peterson-had-a-legal-duty-to-protect-stoneman-douglas-students-and-staff/ar-BBQR7CH?li=BBnbcA1

[Eric J in MN]

1. It's a ridiculous system for a cop to be

...paid a big salary to guard a school on the tiny chance he’ll have to risk his life.

Then when the day comes, he doesn’t risk his life, but he still gets a big pension for the rest of his life.

[dlk]

2. What Exactly Was Peterson Getting Paid For? There Should be Clarity in This Type of Job Description

[MagickMuffin]

3. Sorry bub, that WAS your JOB and therefore your RESPONSIBILITY

period.

Scot Peterson is a COWARD! He was hiding while children were being gunned down, maimed and in some instances killed!!!

If only someone, a good guy with a gun, had the courage to stop this killer from killing innocent kids.

Thank you Judge Patti Englander Henning for your support of the truth on dishonest Scot Peterson's request.

[struggle4progress]

4. This is a distraction from the issue of who gets guns and how we defend against crazies with guns.

It's really silly to blame Scot Peterson for this tragedy

The shooter was reportedly armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. Peterson seems to have been armed with a pistol. Maybe people enjoy sneering that Peterson didn't even enter the building, but it's hard for me to imagine that he had a contractual obligation to commit suicide, even if his job description included a duty of reasonable effort to intervene

[struggle4progress]

5. Resource officer haunted by massacre

By Eli Saslow
June 4

... “How can they keep saying I did nothing? <....> I’m getting on the radio to call in the shooting. I’m locking down the school. I’m clearing kids out of the courtyard. They have the video and the call logs. The evidence is sitting right there” ...

He remembered being unsure whether the blasts were coming from outside or inside the building, or if someone was firing shots in the adjacent parking lot or sniping from the roof. He didn’t know, and no one was there to tell him ...

“Please advise, we have possible, uh, could be firecrackers. I think we got shots fired. Possible shots fired, 1200 building,” he said ...

He remembered wondering why he could not locate the shots. Trees, roof, windows, courtyard. The fire alarm was still blaring. Police sirens were closing in from all directions ...

Students inside the 1200 building were at that very moment flooding 911 with calls describing the exact location and description of the shooter, but .. those calls were being routed not to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office but instead to the bordering Coral Springs Police Department ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/it-was-my-job-and-i-didnt-find-him-stoneman-douglas-resource-officer-remains-haunted-by-massacre/2018/06/04/796f1c16-679d-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?utm_term=.ed741e852da0

[struggle4progress]

6. Officer defends actions

27 February 2018

... When police arrived, he told them he thought the gunman was outside - a belief backed up by "radio transmissions <which> indicated that there was a gunshot victim in the area of the football field," Mr Peterson said, according to his lawyer ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43202800

[struggle4progress]

7. Moment by moment

By Nicole Chavez and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 9:17 PM ET, Thu March 8, 2018

2:21 p.m. ... suspect enters .. east stairwell of Building 12 ...
2:23 p.m. ... Peterson .. on video heading to Building 12 ... Coral Springs Fire Department .. dispatched to school ...
2:25 p.m. ... Peterson calls for .. school to be locked down ...
2:27 p.m. First Coral Springs officer arrives at school ... The suspect exits Building 12 ...
2:28 p.m. ... Cruz .. eventually mixes .. the students and staff running out of the school ...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-school-shooting-timeline/index.html

There's about five (5 minutes) between the time Peterson calls in "possible .. fireworks" and the time the suspect Cruz leaves the building. During this time, Peterson needs to move across campus in the direction of the disturbance (which he does), while assessing the situation (which he does), and taking appropriate steps, such as directing other students away (which he does)

By the time police arrive, Peterson is not yet sure what the exact situation is and informs arriving police that the shoot may not be from the building. Although this is not correct, the suspect has actually by this time left the building.