School resource officer charged with child neglect

[hondo]

Scot Peterson, school resource officer during Parkland shooting, faces 11 charges - CNN

And perjury, etc.

What says the board here? If the guy has a gun and a badge and he's the school resource officer, is he duty-bound to challenge a shooter?
All I can say is that cops are gunning down black kids because they think a cell phone or a hoagie looks like a gun, or the suspect made "threatening" moves or gestures but this guy couldn't engage the Parkland shooter?

 

[Regan MacNeil]

If you're an armed officer, and you wouldn't use your firearm to challenge the shooter and save lives, then what the **** are you there for?

That being said, he shouldn't be charged with anything. He should just lose his job.

EDIT: I'd like to revise and extend my earlier remarks. He absolutely should be charged with perjury, if true.

 

[Severian]

That being said, he shouldn't be charged with anything. He should just lose his job.

He most certainly should be charged. He's there to protect the students. His lack of action was shameful.

 

[qtlaw]

This is an instance where I understand the moral outrage but holding him criminally culpable seems a stretch. I don’t feel comfortable with that. I think he was a total failure but is that criminal?

 

[hondo]

Since posting this I read a legal opinion on a message board that said by Florida law, to prove child negligence, he would have to be defined as a caregiver (parent, guardian, teacher, daycare operator, etc.). Sounds like this will be quite the legal fight if he's got a good lawyer.
I keep waffling on this. He's definitely a *****. But 20 years in jail? Not sure.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Since this happened, I've wondered what his training was. Was he trained to go toward the gunfire in such a case? How well was he trained?

 

[Severian]

Since this happened, I've wondered what his training was. Was he trained to go toward the gunfire in such a case? How well was he trained?

Not very well, it seems.

 

[hondo]

Well, you'd like to think he had more training in how to fire weapons than the shooter.

 

[CD Boogie]

What's with guys named Scot(t) Petersen?

 

[playthrough]

This is an instance where I understand the moral outrage but holding him criminally culpable seems a stretch. I don’t feel comfortable with that. I think he was a total failure but is that criminal?

This is where I'm leaning too. Are we going to get to a point where with every mass shooting we try to place guilt on someone nearby with a gun who didn't use it? I know that's not quite what this was, this was a school resource officer (presumably) trained for these exact moments and then didn't do his job, but still. It's like instead of trying to fix the real problem, this will be a new path.

 

[CD Boogie]

They're just trying to humiliate the guy. Well, mission accomplished. Sending him to jail for 97 years? I get that these people are experiencing extreme grief, but a lot of their anger seems misdirected.

 

[Batman]

What's with guys named Scot(t) Petersen?

Exactly what I was thinking. What is that now, three infamous people with that name?

 

[Severian]

They're just trying to humiliate the guy. Well, mission accomplished. Sending him to jail for 97 years? I get that these people are experiencing extreme grief, but a lot of their anger seems misdirected.

It's humiliating when you're a paid sheriff's deputy who didn't take any action in one of the worst school shootings in history.

 

[qtlaw]

This to me exemplifies how there's this move to cast as wide a net as possible to lay responsibility wherever possible instead of focusing on the major causes. The shooter was the primary culprit, let's keep our attention there. Yes the security officer failed to act, instead he cowered. That's wrong on so many levels, especially since that was his job, but to make that criminal? Strikes me as wrong, to spread the net that far.

I know we want satisfaction but while you strive for perfection you can't legislate perfection. We're humans, errors will be made.

 

[outofplace]

The perjury charge is certainly reasonable, but child neglect? I don't think so. He should definitely lose his job. He clearly failed to do it. But count me in with those who are uncomfortable with criminal charges for his failure to engage.

Also, see what qtlaw said.

 

[CD Boogie]

It's humiliating when you're a paid sheriff's deputy who didn't take any action in one of the worst school shootings in history.

I am in no way defending the guy. It was dereliction of duty, obviously. But sending a guy to prison for 97 years because he froze? It's grandstanding.

 

[Severian]

I am in no way defending the guy. It was dereliction of duty, obviously. But sending a guy to prison for 97 years because he froze? It's grandstanding.

Ninety-seven years is the maximum amount of time he'd serve. He won't get it. It's Florida. The jury, if the case even goes to trial, will likely sympathize with the sheriff's deputy and suggest, at most, maybe a year or two in county jail. Yes, he'll definitely lose his job and never work in law enforcement again, but 97 years? That won't happen.

 

[hondo]

I am in no way defending the guy. It was dereliction of duty, obviously. But sending a guy to prison for 97 years because he froze? It's grandstanding.

I almost see something like this if the shooter kills himself or gets gunned down by cops. People want somewhere to go for their vengeance (gun manufacturers, lax security in the building, etc., going after relatives, in the case of the Pulse shooter). But they've got their guy alive, and he will stand trial. I think firing this dude and yanking his pension, to say nothing of the fact that he will be branded a coward for the rest of his life, will be enough.

 

[CD Boogie]

Ninety-seven years is the maximum amount of time he'd serve. He won't get it. It's Florida. The jury, if the case even goes to trial, will likely sympathize with the sheriff's deputy and suggest, at most, maybe a year or two in county jail. Yes, he'll definitely lose his job and never work in law enforcement again, but 97 years? That won't happen.

A year or two in county jail? JFC, that is extreme to me. That mofo has to live already with the guilt and humiliation of what he didn't do. His name is mud, and so is the name of his family. Do the people of Florida really need this pound of flesh? Focus on the factors that allowed someone like Nicholas Cruz to commit this atrocity. A guy didn't man up in the moment? Dog bites man, news at 11.

 

[Azrael]

Devil's Advocate:

if this guy swore an oath to "protect and serve" these charges make more sense.