Deputy was right there – & did zip
A Florida sheriff’s deputy who did nothing during the Parkland school shooting last week resigned in disgrace, officials said Thursday.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS resource officer Scot Peterson was armed, in uniform and “clearly” knew there was an active shooter but failed to engage gunman Nikolas Cruz, according to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
Security footage shows Peterson “arrive at the west side of Building 12, take up a position and he never went in,” according to Israel, who said the revelation made him “sick to [his] stomach.” Israel said Peterson should have gone “in, address the killer, kill the killer.”
While Peterson was “distraught” over the carnage, a union official said the disgraced cop still thinks he did his duty.
“He believed he did a good job calling in the location, setting up the perimeter and calling in the description” of Cruz, Jim Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff ’s Office Deputies Association, told The Post.
Bell said he didn’t want to secondguess Peterson — but suggested that failing to take on Cruz was a mistake.
“We have to act, even if that means risking our lives to save many, many more lives. I would demand that from our union members,” Bell said.
“You’re listening to an execution every time you hear the rifle shot.”
Peterson made a base annual salary of $75,673.72 as of 2016, according to records cited by the Sun Sentinel.
Peterson’s pension will be 75 percent of the average of his top five earning years while on the job, Bell said.
“After seeing video, witness statements and Scot Petersen’s very own statement, I decided this morning to suspend Scot Petersen without pay,” Israel said. “As is his right, Scot Petersen chose to resign.”
Two other deputies are under investigation for possibly missing earlier warnings about Cruz, Israel said.