Posted on 02/27/2018 6:49:07 AM PST by Ennis85
The armed school officer branded a coward by President Donald Trump has defended his actions during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Scot Peterson was outside the school when a gunman killed 17 people, but did not go inside as shots rang out.
His attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, said his client believed the gunfire was coming from outside the school.
He followed his training by taking cover and prompting a lockdown, the lawyer said.
Mr DiRuzzo said it was "patently untrue" that Mr Peterson was a coward on the day.
Mr Peterson, a veteran officer who had been assigned to guard the high school, resigned last week after his boss, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, suspended him without pay.
Sheriff Israel said that footage from the scene had left him "devastated" and "sick to my stomach".
But Mr DiRuzzo accused the sheriff of "at best, gross oversimplification", saying he "jumped to a conclusion" about Mr Peterson's behaviour.
Mr Peterson said he had originally "received a call of firecrackers".
Only when he ran towards the sound, he said, did he realise it was gunshots.
Broward Sheriff's Office had trained him to seek cover and assess the situation in the event of outdoor gunfire, his lawyer said. Mr Peterson did so, and then told the sheriff's office he had heard shots, prompting a "Code Red" lockdown of the school campus.
When police arrived, he told them he thought the gunman was outside - a belief backed up by "radio transmissions [which] indicated that there was a gunshot victim in the area of the football field," Mr Peterson said, according to his lawyer.
His attorney said in a statement: "Let there be no mistake, Mr Peterson wishes
"However, the allegations that Mr Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances,
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I would be surprised if that were within the governor’s powers. The sheriff is elected by the people of Broward County.
Here is two thoughts that some of us must consider.
1- What if there was a stand down order for deputies waiting outside?
2- What if “coward’ school resource officer had information or another reason to believe that the shooter was outside, as his lawyer claims? What if it is later proved to be true?
The sheriff has a lot to say. I just don’t buy it, yet. The way this sheriff is holding back the info, lying about the info and covering his ass by throwing this deputy out to dry. Someone is to blame, right?
BINGO!!
Come back with your shield, or on it.
This statement was issued for only ONE REASON:
1) To defend against future anticipated lawsuits.
The school, sheriff, state AG, NAACP, and others all had a no-arrest agreement with the school. As such, the police culture thereabout was built on not interfering with actual crimes - meaning they weren’t ready to actually deal with serious situations, only with covering up/excusing them.
No amount of duct tape could force me to keep my mouth shut and screaming my story from the tallest rooftop if I was this guy IF, and that is a big IF, what he was saying was true. And I obviously would not have resigned and nor use an attorney as a spokesman.
He is a lying coward.
I believe I read that it is indeed within the Governor’s powers.
Coward and liar. I thought a lock down in a suspected or known shooter situation was automatic, hence the description “code red”. Why would he need to initiate it?
The FL AG signed the “no-arrest” policy with the school. The state is on the Sheriff’s side with this.
He should have moved closer to the shooting as long as he could remain safe or have some cover. A brave officer would have engaged the shooter to save the lives of the kids.
A first responder can sometimes end the incident. Or at least get close enough to identify details of what is happening.
Staying in the parking to was cowards;y. The Coral Gables cops went past the sheriffs deputies pointing out how cowardly and frozen the SO employees were.
Did he happen to notice any screams coming from inside the school ? What did lock down procedure involve ? What about the other 3 Broward Co deputies that were also on the outside the school doing nothing ? The FBI just looked the other way.
Sorry but this was allowed to happen in order to bring us down
emotionally, wear us down. Throw up our hands. The poor students who have who have come together to try to do something about guns have been co opted by the leftist deep state.
This coward should be stripped of his badge and gun. If he was not prepared to sacrifice his life to save especially a young person's life, he needs to find another line of work. He is more concerned with his pension than his PURPOSE. Perhaps the FBI is hiring? lol
Don’t ever trust anyone named Scot/Scott Peterson!
Gov. Scott should suspend this Sheriff immediately. Fortunately, the Sheriff is no longer in charge of the investigation however.
Now that he is being called a coward and relieved of duty, this would be the ideal time to claim he was told to stand down. I go back and forth on this issue, however it seems that he indeed was a coward...(however I could change my mind)...
THE FACTS THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT PARKLAND
In the Parkland case, their security system had a dismal record concerning student safety and security that should be brought to public discussion particularly beginning with this school having a so called “gun free zone”.
From what has been reported .This school system did have an understanding with the Broward County Sheriff’s Dept. An officer who may be armed assigned to patrol the multi acre site in a golf cart, but bans guns from the rest of its internal security
Criticism arose when the officer assigned to this duty who was nearing retirement was reported to arrive late and after Cruz had entered the building. The officer stationed himself outside the large structure and had called for support. Two BCSD officers responded Which and did the same seeming to refusing to enter the building while armed . He then left before Cruz did.
Also responding was the Coral Springs PD who entered the building and cleared it. Cruz was captured while fleeing with other students by an alert CSPD officer off the 45 acre campus. While para medics were denied entrance by the BCSD to see if they could save any of the victims.
Those laissez faire attitudes strongly suggest examining records beside the interaction between the BCSD and this school board also calls for a review how the bureaucracy at this school handled student vs student, and student vs teacher (Cruz was accused of this) altercations, vandalism, thefts, and drug use. Which are bound to occur were being dealt with.To which a dramatic reduction in disciplinary incidents were reported after the selection of Obama’s friend as school superintendent occurred which was publicly acclaimed.and was receiving large grant from Obama’s Attorrney General because of those results. That many critics claimed encouraged criminal activity.
Because of these Ding Bat liberal policies it brings up another question. Just how safe and secure were those kids ? .Examine records reporting how student vs student, and student vs teacher altercations, vandalism, and thefts, which are bound to occur were being dealt with. Beside the arrangements with the BCSD.
Because in an educational unit this size it’s pretty clear their security system failed . In a secure system Cruz would have never gotten within the grounds let alone inside.
Now that school board has decided to tear down the school which was probably raised by a funding referendums and the grounds house a memorial
Sources for the formulation of this report come from postings from newspaper and television stations placed in Free Republic by volunteers during the period of Feb 14th to the 25th The original sources are linked in these postings
to save space the following are prefixed with
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3635254/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3635029/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3634902/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3634905/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3634916/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3635556/posts
I want to know more about the 3+ other cowards that were there also. They did not get outed and resign, the sheriff and fellow officers are now protecting them behind an all-to-typical wall-of-silence.
Well as long as the cop got to go home to his family then nothing else matters.
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