Former school resource officer Scot Peterson faces seven counts of felony child neglect’ Stay updated in the trial against former Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson by following our live blog. Opening statements were made Wednesday and the state questioned four witnesses. The fourth witness, Sergeant Jeffrey Heinrich, will resume his testimony first thing Thursday morning.
Former school resource officer Scot Peterson faces seven counts of felony child neglect
The Case:
Former school resource officer Scot Peterson is on trial for allegedly not following active shooter training during the Parkland school massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018. Peterson — dubbed “The Broward Coward” — has been criticized for his actions after surveillance video showed him remaining outside the high school while shots were fired inside killing 14 students and three staff members.
Peterson faces seven counts of felony child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury. He and his defense team believe the once “dedicated officer” did nothing wrong.
Parkland student testifies in trial of ex-school resource officer
Prosecutors in the trial of the former school resource officer who stayed outside a Parkland, Florida, high school while 17 people were massacred called their first witness Wednesday: a former student who testified she and her classmates rendered aid to wounded students as they waited for help for 20 minutes after the shooter fired into her classroom.
“It was the longest 20 minutes of my entire life,” said Danielle Gilbert, who was a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the time of the shooting on February 14, 2018, when prosecutors say then-Deputy Scot Peterson was in a “position of cover” for at least 45 minutes as a former student carried out what remains the deadliest high school shooting in US history.
“It felt like an eternity, and the whole time we were all just waiting for the police to come,” Gilbert said, “just to have somebody knock on the door and take us out of that horror.”
The state has accused Peterson, then a deputy with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, of failing to follow his active shooter training by staying outside as the shooting unfolded. Among the slain were 14 students and three staff members; 17 others were wounded.
Peterson has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts, including seven of felony child neglect and three of culpable negligence, which prosecutor Steven Klinger said stem from each of the victims shot on the third floor of the school’s three-story 1200 building.
He also faces one count of perjury, in part for telling investigators he heard only two or three gunshots after arriving at the scene of the shooting, the affidavit says, while other witnesses said they’d heard more.
