More than five years after the tragic shooting in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed the lives of seventeen, a jury reached a verdict on a resource officer who was tried for seven counts of felony child neglect.

The resource officer, Scot Peterson, took the fall as law enforcement officers refused to take action while the violent rampage took place at Stoneman Douglas High School.

After a trial that spanned multiple years, Peterson was found not guilty on all seven counts of felony neglect.

The prosecution highlighted that by the time Peterson was apprised of what was going on, multiple people who were killed in the shooting were still alive and could have been saved if Peterson responded properly.

The defense noted that it was a rapidly evolving situation and Peterson was not aware of where shots were coming from or if there were multiple shooters.

Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor defended the decision to prosecute Peterson after he was acquitted, saying that it is ‘not political’ to ‘expect someone to do their job’.

Ryan Petty, a parent of one of the deceased students, said that while Peterson may have been legally acquitted, ‘Nothing in today’s verdict absolves Scot Peterson of his failures on February 14, 2018’.

The sister of one of the Parkland victims said that the verdict was ‘disappointing’, but ‘not shocking’ to her.

FOX News Reports–

A Florida jury has found former Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson not guilty on all counts.

Peterson faced seven counts of felony child neglect and was the first law enforcement officer in the U.S. to face criminal charges stemming from his alleged inaction during an active school shooting. He was also charged with three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence in relation to the adults shot in the building. Additionally, he was charged with perjury for allegedly lying to detectives.

Peterson would have faced prison time and a loss of his $104,000 annual pension if convicted of the child neglect charges.

As the verdict was announced, Peterson could be seen breaking down in tears inside the courtroom.

 

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