Posted on 06/08/2023 5:07:03 AM PDT by marktwain
Scot Peterson, the retired school resource officer for Majorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is on trial for seven counts of child neglect (felonies), three counts of culpable negligence (misdemeanors), and one count of perjury.
On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, a 19-year-old with a long history of anti-social behavior murdered 17 people and injured 17 others in Parkland, Florida at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Parkland is located in Broward County. The school resource officer at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School was Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson.
The 19-year-old murderer had been seen entering campus through an unlocked gate at 2:19 p.m., carrying what was described as a “rifle bag.” Through a series of policies designed to keep crime and discipline statistics low, several opportunities were missed to stop the young man before he started killing. A detailed account of the policies in place and how they failed to stop the murders can be read in “Why Meadow Died” by Andrew Pollack and Max Eden.
Police officers do not have a legal duty to enforce the law in any particular incident, even if they have been contacted and informed a crime is taking place. A police officer may be fired from his job. Police officers are almost always immune from lawsuits for doing nothing. They are almost never criminally charged. Richard W. Stevens wrote an excellent little book detailing this reality titled Dial 911 and Die, in 1999. The facts in the book are essentially unchanged. It is nearly impossible to win a lawsuit against a police officer for failing to act. Criminal charges have been extremely rare.
Former Deputy Scot Peterson is being charged for what he did not do.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
This was a textbook case of cowardice, regardless .
Well, but we have to give out our guns, so police can protect us?
The entire concept of qualified immunity needs to go.
L
Where public servant fail to perform their duties, yes.
Members of the military can be prosecuted for it. Why should cops be any different?
L
Justice will come to Scot Peterson in one way or another.
... yes but should we make being a wussie a crime.
Looks like a slippery slope to me.
I don't like the over reaching umbrella of “immunity”, but cops operate under a lot restrictions and obligations already.
I can just see the explosion of law suits ...
he coulda ..woulda.. shoulda done so and so ... I want a million bucks.
Pubic shame and humiliation to the max ...
The book referenced and linked in the OP, Why Meadow Died, is excellent. I’ve periodically posted links to it when related subjects come up, and recommend it highly. The policies in place at Parkland that helped this event to happen are in place in many other places around the country.
These days it is extremely rare to find cops who have Honesty, Integrity, Loyalty to the Constitution, and follow the law.
If you disagree, let me know how the LOCKDOWNS went in your area? Did the police participate?
If you disagree, let me know how many police in your area have been fired for harming people after they were in custody, assaulting people who had committed no crimes, arrested people for not committing a crime, or gone off on citizens for “contempt of cop”.
The world is awful now and police are needed. Good cops.
If you have 18 good cops and 2 bad cops, and the 18 do nothing about the 2, you have 20 bad cops. It is beyond time for the police to clean their own house. Allowing bad cops to be in your profession is harming everyone.
The blue line gang needs to go, you are either for CITIZEN SAFETY, you can’t be about OFFICER SAFETY. This guy was told that him going home alive was the most important. NO IT IS NOT. Him stopping the shooter was most important. He didn’t care about the public, he cared about himself. Police now don’t care about YOU the Civilian anymore, their training is to protect themselves. They act cowardly because they are... Uvlade proved even in Texas they are not on your side.
These days it is extremely rare to find cops who have Honesty, Integrity, Loyalty to the Constitution, and follow the law.
If you disagree, let me know how the LOCKDOWNS went in your area? Did the police participate?
If you disagree, let me know how many police in your area have been fired for harming people after they were in custody, assaulting people who had committed no crimes, arrested people for not committing a crime, or gone off on citizens for “contempt of cop”.
The world is awful now and police are needed. Good cops.
If you have 18 good cops and 2 bad cops, and the 18 do nothing about the 2, you have 20 bad cops. It is beyond time for the police to clean their own house. Allowing bad cops to be in your profession is harming everyone.
The blue line gang needs to go, you are either for CITIZEN SAFETY, you can’t be about OFFICER SAFETY. This guy was told that him going home alive was the most important. NO IT IS NOT. Him stopping the shooter was most important. He didn’t care about the public, he cared about himself. Police now don’t care about YOU the Civilian anymore, their training is to protect themselves. They act cowardly because they are... Uvlade proved even in Texas they are not on your side.
Bad idea to equate the police with the military.
Police are simply citizens whom we have delegated our right to keep
watch in our communities
Military are folks we entrust to Kill our enemies.
Let's hope we can keep that distinction.
For misconduct, no disagreement. But both should have immunity for doing their job. I don’t like cops that act bad, but I also don’t want them prosecuted for doing their duty to serve and protect. The George Floyd cops should not be in jail for busting a drug dealer.
He neither served nor protected
The courts have long since determined that the police have no responsibility to protect anyone that they don’t have a special relationship with - they are only required to take reports of crime and investigate such reports after the fact. They are not even legally required to attempt to apprehend the responsible party.
Legally, the officer did nothing wrong. Morally and ethically is another story.
To whom do you refer? If you mean the George Floyd cop, did you watch the video of George Floyd resisting arrest? Did you see the autopsy report where he died of ingested drugs? SPJNK
I think the ONLY issue is how severe Peterson should be punished for being the coward that he clearly was. I believe he knew EXACTLY what was going on but, fearing for his own life, let the children die one at a time on the other side of the wall.
There should be SOME KIND of punishment for LEO’s not doing their duty. They should not get off scot free. The taxpayers didn’t pay him to RUN when and if the killing started they paid him to FIGHT the bad guy.
I can see arguments for and against qualified immunity. Personally, I believe that QI should not be automatically applied but should have to be determined by a jury first - so that the community so affected is responsible for determining whether an officer should receive QI for his actions or not, with ‘not’ being the default. This should not be determined by a judge or DA but by the citizens.
I refer to officer Peterson
See post 15. Legally, Peterson as an officer was not required to do anything but take a police report.
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