Trial of Scot Peterson

Last updated
Peterson outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the 2018 shooting BCSO deputy Scot Peterson outside as gunman murders students inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.jpg
Peterson outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the 2018 shooting

Scot Peterson is an American former police officer who was involved in the events of the 2018 high school shooting incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Broward suburban town of Parkland, Florida. At the time of the shooting, he was a Broward County Sheriff's Office deputy sheriff.

Contents

In 2023, Peterson stood trial for multiple charges including felony child neglect and culpable negligence in relation to his inactivity during the school shooting. Before the trial, commentators had stated that a guilty verdict in his trial might have set a precedent for the legal status of policing in America. On June 29, 2023, Peterson was acquitted on all charges. [1]

Prior events

SRO Peterson, who was armed, on-site and in uniform [2] as a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy, was accused of remaining outside Building 12 during the shooting. Eight days after the attack, he was suspended without pay by Sheriff Israel, and he immediately retired. Sheriff Israel said "Scot Peterson was absolutely on campus for this entire event", and that he should have "gone in, addressed the killer, [and] killed the killer". [3] [4] [5]

A statement released by Peterson's lawyer before he was charged said that Peterson believed the shooting was happening outside the building. According to the lawyer, Peterson claimed he told this to the first Coral Springs police officer who arrived on scene. The statement also pointed to radio transmissions that indicated a gunshot victim near the football field. [6]

The Miami Herald transcribed radio dispatches that Peterson said at 2:23 during the shooting, "Be advised we have possible, could be firecrackers. I think we have shots fired, possible shots fired—1200 building." Seconds later, Peterson radioed: "We're talking about the 1200 building; it's going to be the building off Holmberg Road. Get the school locked down, gentlemen!" At 2:25, he radioed that "We also heard it's by—inside the 1200." At an unspecified time, Peterson called for police to ensure that "no one comes inside the school." At 2:27, at Building 12, he radioed, "Stay at least 500 feet away at this point." At an unspecified time, Peterson ordered: "Do not approach the 12– or 1300 building; stay at least 500 feet away." [7]

On March 15, the sheriff's office released video footage in compliance with a court order. The video was captured by school surveillance cameras and showed some of Peterson's movements during the shooting. [8]

In June 2019, following an investigation that included interviews with 184 witnesses, Peterson was arrested and then bonded out for the crime of failing to protect the students during the shooting. [9] [10] In June 2023, Peterson was tried in court on multiple charges regarding the events related to the shooting. He faced 11 charges, including multiple counts of neglect of a child and culpable negligence, and one count of perjury. [9]

In 2019, Peterson had pleaded not guilty and filed a motion to have all charges dropped. [11] [12] However, the motion was denied and jury selection started on May 31, 2023. [13] [14] [15] On June 29, 2023, after four days of deliberations, jurors acquitted Peterson on all counts. [16] [17] [18]

In July 2023, a judge approved for a re-enactment of the shooting inside the building as part of a civil lawsuit against Peterson. The re-enactment was going be recorded to be reviewed by the court and was planned to include the same type of weapons and ammo used, but with blanks instead of live ammunition. [19] However live ammunition ended up being used instead. [20]

Peterson's legal team requested that the lawsuit brought against him by the victims’ survivors and families be dismissed in December, 2023. [21] The judge took the arguments under advisement and indicated that she would issue a ruling soon. If the trial goes forward, it will begin in 2024. [21]

Response

Some commentators had previously stated that a guilty verdict in the trial might have set precedent for the legal status of policing in the United States by determining the legal interpretation of the term "caregiver" to include police officers under some circumstances. [22] Other commentators were skeptical about this theory. [23] In the end, this issue was never opened because of Peterson's acquittal.

Parents of victims of the shooting were disappointed with the decision of the jury that acquitted Peterson in June 2023 and of Peterson. Some called Peterson a "failure" and "the coward of Broward" [24] while others expressed their concern that he was acquitted and wondered what it would take for a person to be held accountable for their actions. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broward County, Florida</span> County in Florida, United States

Broward County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with 1,944,375 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Fort Lauderdale, which had a population of 182,760 as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkland, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Parkland is a suburban city, 42 miles northwest of Miami, in northern Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Parkland was 34,670. Parkland is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,166,488 people in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broward County Public Schools</span> School system in Florida, United States

Broward County Public Schools is a public school district serving Broward County, Florida, and is the sixth largest public school system in the nation. During the 2022–2023 school year, Broward County Public Schools served 254,384 students enrolled in 330 schools and education centers district wide. The district is headquartered in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It is the sole school district in the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School</span> Public high school in Parkland, Florida, United States

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is a public high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. It was established in 1990 and is part of the Broward County Public Schools district. It is named after the writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas and is the only public high school in Parkland, serving almost all of the limits of that city as well as a section of Coral Springs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami-Dade Police Department</span> County police department in Florida, US

The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), formerly known as the Dade County Sheriff's Office (1836–1957), Dade County Public Safety Department (1957–1981), and the Metro-Dade Police Department (1981–1997), is a county police department serving Miami-Dade County. The MDPD has approximately 4,700 employees, making it the largest police department in the southeastern United States and the eighth largest in the country. The department is still often referred by its former name, the Metro-Dade Police or simply Metro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broward County Sheriff's Office</span> Law enforcement agency in Florida, US

The Broward County Sheriff's Office (BSO) is a public safety organization With 5,400 employees, it is the largest sheriff's department in the state of Florida. Sheriff Gregory Tony heads the agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Police Department (Florida)</span> Law enforcement agency serving Hollywood, Florida

The Hollywood Police Department (HPD) is a full-service agency servicing a population of 152,511 in 27 square miles (70 km2) of the municipality of Hollywood, Florida. At full strength, the department has 322 sworn law-enforcement officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Lakewood shooting</span> 2009 murder of four Lakewood police officers in Parkland, Washington, USA

On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Tony</span> American sheriff (born 1978)

Gregory Scott Tony is an American law enforcement officer and serving since 2019 as the 17th Sheriff of Broward County, Florida.

The shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, two Black American individuals, occurred in East Cleveland, Ohio on November 29, 2012, at the conclusion of a 22-minute police chase which started in downtown Cleveland. Police claimed shots were fired at them as Russell and Williams drove by a squad car; however, this was their vehicle backfiring. Over 60 officers participated in a 23-mile police chase that ended in Russell and Williams' vehicle being surrounded. The victims had no weapon on them and police claimed they fired due to being fired at. Thirteen police officers fired at Russell and Williams 137 times while they were in their car at a parking lot of a middle school, killing both. In May 2014, one of the officers involved, Michael Brelo, was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, and was acquitted by a Cuyahoga County judge of the charges on May 23, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of Charles Kinsey</span> Shooting of mental health therapist by police

On July 18, 2016, Charles Kinsey, a behavior therapist, was shot in the leg by a police officer in North Miami, Florida. Kinsey had been retrieving his 27-year-old autistic patient, Arnaldo Rios Soto, who had run away from his group home. Police encountered the pair while they were searching for an armed suicidal man. Kinsey was lying on the ground with his hands in the air, and trying to negotiate between officers and his patient, when he was shot. The officer who shot Kinsey said he had been aiming at the patient, who the officer believed was threatening Kinsey with a gun. Both Kinsey and his patient were unarmed.

On January 6, 2017, a mass shooting occurred at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida, United States, near the baggage claim in Terminal 2. Five people were killed while six others were injured in the shooting. About 36 people sustained injuries in the ensuing panic. Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, who flew in to the airport from Alaska and committed the shooting with a Walther PPS 9mm semi-automatic pistol, was taken into custody by a Broward County Sheriff's Office (BSO) deputy within 85 seconds after he started shooting. The shooting from start to finish lasted 70–80 seconds. Santiago was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and pleaded guilty to avoid possible execution. On August 17, 2018, Santiago was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences plus 120 years in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkland high school shooting</span> 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, US

On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, United States, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. Cruz, a former student at the school, fled the scene on foot by blending in with other students and was arrested without incident approximately one hour and twenty minutes later in nearby Coral Springs. Police and prosecutors investigated "a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Israel</span> American law enforcement officer

Scott Israel is an American law enforcement officer in Florida, and the former Broward County Sheriff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of XXXTentacion</span> 2018 murder in Deerfield Beach, Florida, US

On June 18, 2018, 20-year-old American rapper and singer-songwriter Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion, was murdered in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Onfroy was fatally shot by 22-year-old Michael Boatwright after being robbed in his car by Boatwright and his accomplices Trayvon Newsome, Dedrick Williams, and Robert Allen outside RIVA Motorsports, an upscale seller of motorcycles and watercraft in Deerfield Beach. Authorities charged the four men with first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolas Cruz</span> American mass murderer

Nikolas Jacob Cruz is an American mass murderer who perpetrated the Parkland high school shooting, where he shot and killed 17 people and wounded 17 others on February 14, 2018. In 2022, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his involvement in the deaths and injuries caused during the shooting, which is the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.

The Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission(CJSTC), established in 1967 under Florida Statutes, Chapter 943, is a Florida state commission. The Commission's mission is "To ensure that all citizens of Florida are served by criminal justice officers who are ethical, qualified, and well-trained." It is part of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Brittany Chrishawn Moore, better known as Brittany Chrishawn, is an American film producer, musical artist, and police brutality survivor who was brutalized by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) police after asking a trespassing officer to leave her property. She gained public support after the release and examination of body camera footage of her unjust arrest and mistreatment by five Jacksonville, Florida police officers.

References

  1. ↑ "Parkland shooting verdict: School security officer Scot Peterson found not guilty in deadly attack". NBC News. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  2. ↑ Chavez, Nicole (June 4, 2019). "This is what Scot Peterson did during the Parkland school shooting". CNN. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  3. ↑ Blinder, Alan; Mazzei, Patricia (February 22, 2018). "As Gunman Rampaged Through Florida School, Armed Deputy 'Never Went In'". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  4. ↑ Owen, Tess (February 22, 2018). "The armed school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas waited outside during the shooting". Vice News . Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  5. ↑ Tapper, Jake (February 23, 2018). "Sources: Coral Springs police upset at some Broward deputies for not entering school". CNN. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ Ovalle, David (February 26, 2018). "I'm no coward, says deputy who didn't go inside Parkland school during massacre". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  7. ↑ Ovalle, David; Rabin, Charles; Smiley, David; Teproff, Carli (April 17, 2018). "Disgraced Parkland deputy heard shots inside school building, told cops to stay away". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on March 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Berman, Mark (March 15, 2018). "Broward Sheriff's Office releases video showing deputy standing outside Parkland school during massacre". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  9. 1 2 Burch, Audra D. S. (June 4, 2019). "Deputy Who Stayed Outside During Parkland School Shooting Faces Criminal Charges". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  10. ↑ Hassan, Adeel (June 6, 2019). "Scot Peterson Is Released on Bond. Here's How He's Explained His Actions During the Parkland Shooting". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  11. ↑ Viteri, Amy (July 22, 2019). "Scot Peterson pleads not guilty to felony charges related to Parkland school shooting". WPLG Local10. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  12. ↑ Forney, Terrell (September 11, 2019). "Scot Peterson files petition to have charges dropped". WPLG Local10. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Florida deputy faces trial for alleged failure to confront Parkland school shooter". May 30, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Jury selection set to begin in trial of former Parkland BSO deputy Scot Peterson - CBS Miami". CBS News .
  15. ↑ "Trial for Scot Peterson Set to Begin. Here's What to Know About the Former Resource Deputy". May 30, 2023.
  16. ↑ Andone, Dakin; Royal, Denise; Suarez, Carlos (2023-06-29). "Jury deliberations push into 4th day over ex-Parkland school resource officer's fate in a rare trial over police conduct in a mass shooting". CNN. Archived from the original on 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  17. ↑ Andone, Dakin; Royal, Denise; Suarez, Carlos (2023-06-29). "Parkland school resource officer who stayed outside during mass shooting found not guilty". CNN. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  18. ↑ "Parkland shooting verdict: School security officer Scot Peterson found not guilty in deadly attack". NBC News. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  19. ↑ Hornstein, Teri (2023-07-12). "Judge approves re-enactment of Parkland school shooting for Scot Peterson civil trial - CBS Miami". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  20. ↑ Royal, Alaa Elassar,Holly Yan,Denise (2023-08-04). "Parkland school shooting is reenacted with live gunfire after lawmakers tour the gruesome scene where 17 people were massacred". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. 1 2 Spencer, Terry. "Florida deputy's legal team says he didn't have an obligation to stop Parkland school shooter". msn.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  22. ↑ "Scot Peterson did not confront the Parkland school shooting. Should he be jailed?". BBC News. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  23. ↑ "Ex-Parkland officer's inaction was 'disgraceful' but not likely criminal, experts say". NBC News. 2019-06-05. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  24. ↑ "Ex-Florida officer charged with failing to confront Parkland shooter says he is 'looking forward' to his trial". NBCnews.com. NBC News. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  25. ↑ "'He should be haunted': Parkland parents express frustration over Scot Peterson acquittal". NBC 6 South Florida. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.