While it is certainly safe to say Scot Peterson could have done a lot more that day, and that he is a piece of shit for allowing the shooting to continue, and teachers to rush back into the building, while he stood outside with his gun, vest and badge “securing the perimeter until backup arrived”, I also think it sets a dangerous precedent to pursue criminal charges against him. Civil suits…definitely, all day long…but criminal charges are another matter altogether and could have unforeseen consequences on future criminal prosecution of police officers.
I can see a good defense attorney for a police officer charged with shooting the wrong person in an “active shooter” situation claiming “Officer Smith felt he had to enter the building on his own and take action, as he was afraid if he did not he could face charges like the officer in the Florida school shooting. He deeply regrets the mistake he made, but the alternative was to do nothing and face possible criminal liability if more innocent people were killed.”
It would be different if Peterson had run to his police cruiser and sped off, or even just sat inside it calling for backup and refusing to come out. But bringing criminal charges against a police officer for not rushing into a building gun blazing like an action movie hero…that starts us down a slippery slope. How do you determine when exactly the point is where it becomes negligence not to have entered the building? Can you then fault police offices for arriving late to a scene? If an officer is unsure which building the shooter may be in, and runs into the wrong building, is he going to be criminally negligent if someone else gets killed while he’s trying to figure it out?
People want JUSTICE, and that’s understandable, but it’s important to keep in perspective that Nikolas Cruz killed 17 students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He is the sole person responsible for the deaths of those people, and as much as we want gun laws changed, the NRA abolished, Republican lawmakers tossed out of office and shitty police officers kicked to the curb, Nikolas Cruz is the real criminal here.
Scot Peterson was a cop with a 30 year career, not a security guard.
Per the official national association for resource officers, he should have engaged the threat to protect the children. He’s a fucking coward and never should have been in that role if he wasn’t going to actually do his job.
How should school resource officers respond to active shooter incidents? NASRO trains school resource officers to move directly to the threat, as quickly as possible and then to neutralize the threat to prevent further injury or loss of life.
And idiots want to arm teachers. Jesus fucking Christ. Can’t even get a cop to respond to an active shooter and they want teachers firing guns in crowds of students.
I never said criminal liability - don’t think you need to prove that for him to be a fucking coward that should have done his job. Just pointing out that the guy was a cop, not a glorified security guard.
His punishment is that from now on, whenever some idiot says “the answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”, we get to say, “Oh, like Scott Peterson?”
I have a feeling we will see this exact case go to the supreme court. That’s my guess, I am not a lawyer, etc. Not because he was a sheriff officer and falls under the ruling you and Armando both mention, but because he was school security related, and if falls between two school based rulings.
Remember Sandy Hook? The school board there was found protected from liability because they reasonably followed safety protocols during an emergency event.
But also, Martinsville Middle School ruling. Whereby the school WAS found liable because part of it could have been prevented if protocol had taken place.
Straight from that page, also posted earlier by @rowe33:
How should school resource officers respond to active shooter incidents? NASRO trains school resource officers to move directly to the threat, as quickly as possible and then to neutralize the threat to prevent further injury or loss of life.
Here’s the gray area. If evidence suggests he did not follow his duties as a School resource Officer, is there then any liability for possibly loss of life he could have prevented AT A SCHOOL he is covering?
I can’t fault people for being angry at Peterson. The guy hid, directed arriving officers incorrectly, then lied about it afterwards. His (in)actions may have indeed cost lives at the school.
Comparing what he did to cops unjustifiably shooting unarmed people, and presenting it as a binary choice is dumb. We can work on reducing cop shootings and making sure cowards like Peterson get punished at the same time.
