Former deputy Scot Peterson arrested for child neglect, culpable negligence in connection with Parkl

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Former deputy Scot Peterson arrested for child neglect, culpable negligence in connection with Parkland school shooting

Holy cow, I never saw this coming.

I don't know every detail about what happened here other than Peterson has basically been accused of being a coward and his cowardice possibly caused some deaths. Then again, it's possible that even if he tried to be a hero those deaths still may have occurred. We will never know.

I'm not defending the guy, but it takes a lot of guts to charge into a situation with an active shooter who may be better armed than you are - some people have it, others don't.

This guy was obviously the wrong man for the job, but does that make him a criminal? My mind is completely open on this - convince me one way or the other. Of course, being arrested for his lack of action says volumes.

 

This is all for show and has zero chance of sticking.

And if he can be charged and convicted then so should the staff that hired the incompetent resource officer.

 

He was there to protect the children from threats such as school shooters and failed to act in that capacity.

As for the specific criteria that would need to be met in Florida on each of those charges, I don't know.

 

He failed to rise to the occasion and do what he had sworn to do, which was to protect the public. He's a disgrace to the profession, but I'm thinking it's not criminal in nature, but I'm open to differing opinions.

 

This one is messy, but his lack of action is so disgraceful that I hope somehow someway there's repercussions.

 

Didn't a group of 3 officers who responded to the emergency call also fail to enter the school??

 

They say he stopped them

 

Me too and one of the topics at the watering hole this afternoon. Yea the guy shirked his duty and showed cowardice and misjudgement, wasn't he telling other officers to stay back like 500 yards. I see there is a perjury charge which I assume they would have a solid case to bring that charge. Again while his actions despicable it will be interesting to watch if these charges stick and what defense his lawyers will mount.

 

Yeah as I just said above, didn't he tell them on the radio to stay across the street because he didn't know where the shooter was or something? Certainly a firing offense but when does it become criminal? That's the child neglect charge, need to go look up the state statute.

 

Yep and showed despicable cowardice and failure to perform his duty. Criminal?

 

For a moment let me play devil's advocate. What if he ran into the school, got shot and the shooter took his gun allowing him to shoot more people. Wouldn't we be saying he should have waited until he had a better assessment of the situation and backup arrived? I guess it depends on what their policy is and how they're trained, but I don't see anything in his actions that I know of that are criminal.

 

That is EXACTLY I point I made over a shot of Jameson, if he got himself shot then there is an extra gun. Was he supposed to wait for backup? I'm sure his lawyers will argue that. Myself I would hope I would find the wherewithal to at least engage the shooter and draw his attention, suppression fire. Maybe we'll find out more as the results of the investigation and timelines and radio calls are released. It's going to be an interesting case. One person said tonight that of course there is a lot of "let's make an example of this guy" for other first responders.

Here's a good question. The charges center around the persons under attack being children. What if they have been adults in a college classroom? Wonder if the lawyers will bring up that point.

 

I'm going to say there's a lot to consider. Had this cop been trained in anti terrorism tactics, he would still have to assess from where he heard the shots were coming from where the shooter was and what direction he was going. Even then he has no idea how many shooters there are. So if he Rambos into the school and gets shot, not only does he lose his weapon, he's no longer any help to anyone.

Like I said earlier, I don't know very many details of what happened, but every one of us are excellent Monday morning quarterbacks. But if he was charged with crimes, then he was charged by people who know a lot more about what happened than I do.

 

While your scenario is an interesting problem, I wonder if it has ever happened. We have had enough of these shootings for some kind of data on that.
I admit that these charges surprised me and while the police are not the military this seems to parallel a cowardice under fire charge.

 

FINALLY! The entire response team at Columbine should have faced trial as well.

Military or paramilitary LEO must go after the shooter(S) instead of hunkering down and protecting the perimeter.

That LT at Columbine, who is going around making money 'training' active shooter response, should be in jail still.

 

Off handed, I don't fault him. It's my understanding that he was neither trained nor equipped for such a situation. One man cannot be the personal bodyguard for thousands of Students. And he also has to live with his actions/choices that day.

 

Running into a school full of kids with a gun in your hand when you have no clue about what's going on doesn't seem like a smart move. But that's just me, maybe I'm wrong. Did this cop stay on school grounds or did he retreat when he heard the shots?

 

Depending on Florida Law, this will be a tough case to prosecute. I wonder how much of this is a smoke screen to ward off potential lawsuits against the County Sheriff Department....which was VERY negligent prior to the shooting.

 

Now for the sake of argument, given your example of a law enforcement officer being hesitant to run into a school full of kids, can that be balanced by having teachers having guns IN school. I honestly don't remember where you are on that issue but you have given an excellent example of why that would be a terrible idea.

 

Better a Live Coward than a Dead Hero.

^Said everybody, ever.

 

Not every person is capable or brave enough to carry a gun and fight off a shooter. I once posted my idea on this and will do so tomorrow when it’s easier to type.

 

Just learned that Peterson retreated. Not good.

 

Is it part of his job description that he needs to charge into a shooting zone? Cowardly yes, but criminal? That will be hard to prove.

 

How is one guy able to stopped 3 other officers from doing their job?

 

Now those are some BS charges. Anyone who votes guilty on any of them is a worthless human. If the charges aren't dropped all of the school security people across the country should quit their jobs.