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 ...
COWARD or under orders, it does not matter. He did not do his duty to protect and serve.
So he ran away when he found out the “firecrackers” were gunshots?
The Governor should immediately have the FLHP march into the Sheriff’s office and remove his badge and gun and escort him out of the building.
I’m inclined to suggest that all of the deputies involved in this incident should be terminated with prejudice as well.
What I want to know is if he was ordered to stand down.
It took this long to come up with that story? Which basket holds the deplorables?
It took this long to come up with that story? Which basket holds the deplorables?
It is one of those facts of life that an individual can not proclaim themselves either a “hero” or a “coward”.
His actions defines him.
Nice try by his white shoe lawyer, but not buying it.
Next is the lawsuit for wrongful termination. Even though Peterson resigned, Israel had suspended him w/o pay and said he was in the process of terminating him.
Excuses don’t wash.
On scene he knows he is the only person in position to stop the massacre.
He had an OBLIGATION to make every attempt to intervene.
Then why was he standing there pointing his gun at the building when the Coral Springs police blew past him?
Point of order.
Snotty branded himself as a coward with his failure to act for the children.
President Trump merely acknowledged that fact.
If the real hero of the event, Aaron Feis, had a concealed carry the event would have ended before he and perhaps a dozen children were murdered.
Arm the Aarons!
There must have been 911 calls stating the shooter was inside the building. Was that not communicated to Dep. Peterson?
“followed his training”
Did his training include “inside” vs “outside”? This could be the problem.
Florida school shooting: Officer Scot Peterson's union-supplied lawyer defends actions.
So much for ‘active shooter’ training.
The important thing here is Scott “the Coward of Broward” Peterson got to go home that night.
> His attorney, Joseph DiRuzzo, said... <
I stopped reading right there, as it’s an attorney’s job to make things up to cover his client. Oops, sorry. I did’t mean to offend any attorneys out there.
I should have said: It’s an attorney’s job to present alternative theories to help his client.
Well said.
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