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Parkland survivors, families file federal lawsuit alleging their civil rights violated
The Hill ^ | 07/11/18 | Emily Birnbaum

Posted on 07/11/2018 2:55:10 PM PDT by yesthatjallen

A group of Parkland, Fla., shooting survivors and their families filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday alleging that the county and local law enforcement failed to protect the high school students, resulting in “psychological injury and trauma.”

The lawsuit claims various school and county officials violated students’ constitutional rights when they did not adequately safeguard Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty died during the Feb. 14 shooting.

Each of the 15 plaintiffs represented in the lawsuit are students who were at the school on the day of the shooting, according to a press release on Wednesday.

The lawsuit’s defendants include Broward County, where the high school is located; the school’s superintendent; and four individual members of local law enforcement.

“The allegations in this complaint — many of which have been publicly known for some time — paint a shocking image of one missed opportunity after another on the part of the defendants,” Solomon Radner, one of the attorneys representing the survivors, said in a statement.

“I can’t help but think had the defendants seized on one — ONE — of these missed opportunities to stop the shooter in his tracks, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School might have been the name of just another school instead of being synonymous with ‘mass shooting,’” Radner added.

Four of the five counts in the lawsuit deal with former school resource officer Scot Peterson’s behavior before the shooting. The lawsuit alleges that Peterson conducted an invasive search of several students’ backpacks hours before the shooting and took $200 from one student that he accused of selling drugs.

The search was a violation of the students’ civil rights, according to the lawsuit.

“Peterson’s primary concern was presumably to illustrate for the students how tough he was,” the lawsuit states while accusing Peterson of inaction during the shooting and lying to the public about it afterwards.

Peterson has been the target of public outrage for surveillance video that shows he did not enter the school building during the shooting.

The lawsuit also accuses Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie and Broward Sheriff Scott Israel of failing to improve safety conditions at the Parkland high school, alleging that both men knew conditions were below standard.

The lawsuit further details mistakes made by school guard Andrew Medina and law enforcement officer Jan Jordan, who both were unable to prevent the shooting.

“Law enforcement choked,” Radner said at a news conference on Wednesday, according to CNN.

This lawsuit is one of several brought by Parkland survivors, though it is the first to name individual members of law enforcement.

Many Parkland survivors and their families became vocal anti-violence advocates in the shooting's aftermath, with a group of survivors launching multi-million-dollar gun control advocacy group March for Our Lives.

The group’s most visible leaders have become public figures with millions of total followers on Twitter.

March for Our Lives leaders are spending the summer touring areas of the U.S. that are heavily affected by gun violence while the families of Parkland victims launch an advocacy group called Stand With Parkland.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: guncontrol; parkland
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Now that the gun hysteria sideshow has subsided, people are finally noticing there was a failure by the school and police to protect students.
1 posted on 07/11/2018 2:55:10 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

“To Protect and Serve”, if we’re up to the task.

So says the Gun Grabber Sheriff.


2 posted on 07/11/2018 2:57:06 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (One Man's Mainstream Media is another Man's Ministry of Propoganda.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Ya , Sue Obama ,he screwed everything up


3 posted on 07/11/2018 2:57:30 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: yesthatjallen

They should sue the FBI also. Twice they failed to act on credible tips.


4 posted on 07/11/2018 2:58:05 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (My "White Privilege" is my work ethic.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Did these people Rally in Chicago?


5 posted on 07/11/2018 2:58:49 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (One Man's Mainstream Media is another Man's Ministry of Propoganda.)
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To: yesthatjallen

You all note that this sheriff, along with the chief LEO in the Giffords shooting got out and started yapping as soon they could find a microphone.

The reason was that they were culpable in it.


6 posted on 07/11/2018 3:00:42 PM PDT by crz
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To: yesthatjallen

They need to go after Obama and Holder for their “PROMISE” Program that created the environment for the shooter in the first place.


7 posted on 07/11/2018 3:00:48 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: yesthatjallen

It will fail. Numerous people have sued the police for not protecting them and the SC has ruled that the police have no duty to protect you.


8 posted on 07/11/2018 3:02:03 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The ONLY purpose for gun control is so that one group can force its will on a less powerful group.)
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To: crz

9 posted on 07/11/2018 3:03:54 PM PDT by OttawaFreeper ("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966)
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To: yesthatjallen

Surprised they are actually suing the responsible parties.

Shocking.


10 posted on 07/11/2018 3:04:30 PM PDT by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES-GOD WITH US)
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To: yesthatjallen

Sue Obama.

It was his federal policies that kept the thugs and punks in school and not prison.

It was his fault that school officials and authorities had to look the other way while Cruz thugged his way through high school.


11 posted on 07/11/2018 3:04:59 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: yesthatjallen

Notice how everything today is a “civil right”?

Sheriff is an elected office and all you idiots did was kept re-electing the keystone cops each year. Sounds like this is the fault of the parents....


12 posted on 07/11/2018 3:07:02 PM PDT by Trump.Deplorable
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To: yesthatjallen

They might want to throw in the NEA just for good measure. We definitely needs some comprehensive education reform to fix our broken system. Time to get off the LGBT/Sexual Identity kick and go back to teaching the “three Rs” with a double helping of HISTORY thrown in. Right now, we’re graduating moronic political props and “voters” for the Socialist Democrat Party. That’s the students who are not murdered by one of their classmates who was “offended” by somebody or something at the school.


13 posted on 07/11/2018 3:07:59 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Don't pass up the opportunity to use the Second Amendment today! IT'S FREE!)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Yep...this as settled as any court precedent. The lawsuit should not survive preliminaries.


14 posted on 07/11/2018 3:10:48 PM PDT by rottndog ('Live Free Or Die' Ain't just words on a bumber sticker...or a tagline.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
...the SC has ruled that the police have no duty to protect you.

"Dial 911 and Die" discusses the history of this Supreme Court decision. Local law enforcement is under no obligation to provide any one protection.

Of course, when the State disarms potential victims, there must be some implied obligation.

15 posted on 07/11/2018 3:15:28 PM PDT by nonsporting
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To: Blood of Tyrants

The police were under contract to protect the school, this creates a special case that is different from protecting the general public. Basically as I understand the law, the police are not obliged to protect any specific person, unless they have formed a contract with that person.


16 posted on 07/11/2018 3:15:31 PM PDT by LukeL
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To: Rome2000

“The lawsuit’s defendants include Broward County, where the high school is located; the school’s superintendent; and four individual members of local law enforcement.”

Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of people. Hope they are self insured so that filthy Broward county’s real estate taxes go off the charts if the suit succeeds.


17 posted on 07/11/2018 3:15:32 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: yesthatjallen
They need to get a clue. The Supreme Court has said multiple times that the police have no duty to protect any particular individual.
18 posted on 07/11/2018 3:16:28 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Enjoy the decline of the American empire.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Ya beat me to it, but I did link to a SC case.


19 posted on 07/11/2018 3:17:08 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Enjoy the decline of the American empire.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Probably an ambulance chasing lawyer told them they could sue, even though he knows the courts have found no duty to protect.

So, even though the case will be lost, the lawyer gets paid in the meantime.


20 posted on 07/11/2018 3:17:17 PM PDT by fruser1
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