The Deputy
It was Valentine’s Day 2018 when Nikolas Cruz went on a murderous rampage at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The CLB responded February 20, 2018 with the initial Featured Article and followed with another (“Second Thoughts on Parkland”) on February 26, 2018 concluding that law enforcement failed the MSD students (and faculty) before, during and after the armed assault. The greatest scorn was reserved for MSD “Resource Officer” Scot Peterson, who had already resigned as an officer of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department. I ranted at his unforgivable cowardice in opting for a secure position outside the “Freshman Building” while the massacre continued inside.
Now I am pleased to learn that Scot Peterson has been charged with 11 crimes, including child neglect, culpable negligence, and perjury. My intuition is that the perjury arose from Peterson lying about his cowardly behavior. The child neglect offense must be from Peterson’s failure to act while having a clear duty to act. The Indiana parallel would seem to be neglect of a dependent (IC 35-46-1-4) which may be charged against duty-bound persons other than parents.
While I am not fully certain that Peterson’s damnable cowardice should be prosecuted as a crime, I cannot bring myself to feel sorry for him.
The Sheriff
In the days following the MSD massacre televison screens were filled with images and words from Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who offended me greatly by taking no responsibility for the cowardice of his officers (Peterson plus three others) on scene during the shooting and by having the gall to brag on camera about the quality of his leadership. I suggested in the article of February 26, 2018 that Sheriff Israel should use his abundant time on camera to take responsibility and to issue an apologetic resignation. Sheriff Israel continued in office until January 11, 2019 when newly elected Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended him. He remains suspended as of this writing but vows (reportedly) to run for re-election to the office of Sheriff. I wish him the worst of luck.
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