Scot Peterson sobs as he hears that he has been acquitted of all charges for his role as a school resource officer during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018.
A former Florida sheriff’s deputy has been acquitted on all counts of negligence, neglect, and perjury for failing to confront the Parkland school shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
Scot Peterson, 60, sobbed — at times hysterically — while the verdict was read.
Peterson faced up to 96 years in prison for failing to intervene when Nikolas Cruz opened fire at the school, killing 17 people.
“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a press release when Peterson was arrested. “There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.”
In total, Peterson went to trial on seven counts of felony child neglect for the four children who were killed and three who were wounded on the third floor.
There were also three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence against the defendant for the three adults who were shot, including the teacher and adult student who lost their lives.
The deputy of 32 years was also charged with perjury for lying in a sworn statement to investigators, saying he thought the shots were coming from outside the school.
Security footage shows an armed Peterson arriving at the crime scene and taking cover outside a neighboring building while the shooter fired his weapon around 75 times.
A jury of six heard the state argue that the defendant’s actions showed that he knew the shots were coming from inside the school building and that he could have prevented some of the shootings if he took action.
Peterson was not charged until the following June and was released on a bond of less than $40,000 two days later.
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