Parents of children gunned down in the Parkland school shooting in Florida last year have never understood two actions taken by Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel: his refusal to fire a campus-based deputy who failed to enter the school during the rampage that took 17 lives, and his continued defense of controversial Obama-era school policies that allowed the accused shooter, Nikolas Cruz, to avoid arrest and a police record and thereby purchase the murder weapon.
Some now think they have found the answer in a single incident that occurred in 2014. A police report shows that’s when Israel's then-17-year-old son, Brett, was accused of participating in a sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The case was investigated by Scot Peterson -- the armed deputy who took cover while children and staff were shot last February. Using the Obama-era guidelines, Peterson’s recommendation helped his boss’s son receive just a three-day suspension.
“Everyone in this county is wondering why Peterson was allowed to retire so quickly and take his pension,” said local attorney Alex Arreaza, who represents victims of the school tragedy. “Normally deputies would not be allowed to retire under those circumstances, but in this case, Peterson was allowed to. This report gives a plausible reason,” he said.
Friday, January 4, 2019
A Discouraging But Unsurprising Revelation
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
ReplyDeleteSometimes Professional Courtesy results in a body count.
If you read the just released report, Peterson draws attention simply because he was the first on scene, and was very obvious about his cowardice. However, EVERY one of them from Coward County did the same thing, arrived, and sat or stood or drove around and did NOTHING. The ONLY cops that did it right were the two school cops from Coral Gables, the next town over. They heard about the incident, and went immediately to Parkland and rushed the school. They discovered the gear that was abandoned by the shooter, and announced that he was gone.
ReplyDeleteThe reason that nothing was done about this situation was that the Chief Coward had changed the instructions detailing the responsibilities of arriving officers to "MAY" enter immediately, instead of the normal "SHALL".
The sad thing is that one big name national trainer of officers noted that probably 95% of the officers that he trains to handle mass shooters like this would act the same way. Until the parents make it more hazardous to stay outside than to enter the school and tackle the shooter(s), not much will change.
I can understand why many officers might be afraid, but all the more reason for victims to be armed.
ReplyDeleteNobody hired for the job is as motivated to save your life as you are yourself.
ReplyDelete