Multiple felony charges of child endangerment were filed Tuesday against the former Broward County sheriff’s deputy who hid while a man gunned down 17 students at a South Florida high school last year.
Scot Peterson, who was the school resource officer on duty on February 14, 2018, was terminated for his inaction along with a sergeant named Brian Miller.
But now the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has concluded its investigation and have charged Peterson with seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury.
He was arrested Tuesday, according to WPTV.
“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen. “There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.”
The fallout from the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland resulted in Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel being removed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and replaced by Gregory Tony.
“We cannot fulfill our commitment to always protect the security and safety of our Broward County community without doing a thorough assessment of what went wrong that day,” Sheriff Tony told WPTV. “I am committed to addressing deficiencies and improving the Broward Sheriff’s Office.”
However, the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that cops do not have a Constitutional duty to protect citizens.
