Deputy faces trial for alleged failure to confront Parkland school shooter

In a prosecution believed to be a national first, a former Broward sheriff’s deputy is about to be tried on charges that he failed to confront the gunman who murdered 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland high school five years ago.

Jury selection begins Wednesday in the trial of former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, who remained outside a three-story classroom building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during Nikolas Cruz’s six-minute attack on Feb. 14, 2018. Opening statements are scheduled for early June, and the trial could last two months.

Peterson, 60, is charged with seven counts of felony child neglect for four students killed and three wounded on the 1200 building’s third floor. Peterson arrived at the building with his gun drawn 73 seconds before Cruz reached that floor, but instead of entering, he backed away as gunfire sounded. He has said he didn’t know where the shots were coming from.

Peterson is also charged with three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence for the adults who were shot on the third floor. Those people included a teacher and an adult student who died. He also faces a perjury charge for allegedly lying to investigators. He could get nearly a century in prison if convicted on the childneglect counts and lose his $104,000 annual pension.

Prosecutors did not charge Peterson in connection with the 11 killed and 13 wounded on the first floor before he arrived at the building. No one was shot on the second floor.

According to the National Association of School Resource Officers, which represents campus police, Peterson would be the first U.S. law-enforcement officer to be tried for allegedly failing to act during a school shooting. Texas authorities are investigating the officers who didn’t confront the Uvalde gunman who killed 19 elementary students and two teachers last year, but no charges have been filed.

Peterson “is just a coward,” parent Andrew Pollack said, calling him an obscenity. His 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, was the adult student murdered on the third floor.

“He wouldn’t have gone in with full body armor and a bazooka,” Pollack said. Other victims’ rela

AMY BETH BENNETT South Florida Sun Sentinel Defense lawyer Mark Eiglarsh gestures as if he is holding a gun as he speaks during a hearing in the case of former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School School Resource Officer Scot Peterson, right, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday.