The Florida deputy who resigned after it emerged he didn’t enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the mass shooting on Valentine’s Day is not “a coward” and acted appropriately, his lawyer said in a statement Monday.
Broward Deputy Scot Peterson has been heavily criticized for failing to enter the school and confront the gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, during the rampage that left 17 people dead.
Peterson had been assigned to guard the school, and his actions — or lack of them — were even lambasted by President Trump, who called Peterson “a coward” last week. Trump on Monday again slammed Peterson and other officers who allegedly did not enter the school, saying “the way they performed was frankly disgusting.”
Peterson’s lawyer Joseph DiRuzzo said in a news release obtained by Fox News the one-time school resource officer of the year didn’t go inside the high school because he believed the shooting was happening outside the building.
“Let there be no mistake, Mr. Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the seventeen victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need,” according to the statement. “However, the allegations that Mr. Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue.” – READ MORE
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