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9/5/18, “New video shows school cop Scot Peterson hiding as gunman shoots Parkland students,” Sun Sentinel, David Fleshler, Ft. Lauderdale
“The
failure to act by former school deputy Scot Peterson was put on display
Wednesday before the Florida state commission investigating the
Parkland school shooting, as commissioners watched a
surveillance video of his actions against an animation showing the
shooter’s movements through the school.
The video shows Peterson taking up a position 69 feet from the door of the 1200 building, where the murders were taking place. Meanwhile, Peterson made radio calls for intersections to be blocked, which members of the commission said was precisely the wrong idea when an active shooter was busy killing people.
As the video was shown, family members in the audience wept and dabbed their eyes.
Peterson has been subpoenaed to testify at the October meeting of the commission investigating the shooting, the chairman of the commission said Wednesday.
Peterson, the school resource officer, resigned in disgrace after videos showed that he took cover near the building where the shootings were taking place and did nothing to confront the gunman.
“It’s very important, and he should answer,” Bob Gualtieri, chairman of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, during a break in the meeting. “He
went on the ‘Today’ show, and he talked to The Washington Post, so he
should answer questions from this fact-finding commission. He told a self-serving story on the ‘Today’ show in a friendly environment so he can answer questions from this commission.”
Max Schachter, a member of the commission, whose son Alex was murdered in the massacre, said his question for Peterson will be simple.
“Why?” he said. “He was at the front of that building and he didn’t enter. He could have done something. Why did he go away and hide?”
Peterson’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment on whether his client would testify.
But Gualtieri said he saw no basis for Peterson to invoke his Fifth
Amendment right to refuse to testify. If he does refuse, he said, the
commission has the option of going to court to ask a judge to hold him
in contempt.
“It’s very important that we hear from him, that the commission hears from him and that the public hears from him,” he said. “Why he acted, why he didn’t act, what he knew and what he didn’t do.”
Although Peterson later said he didn’t know where the shots were
coming from and thought there might have been a sniper, he has received
national vilification. President Donald Trump called him a coward, and
Sheriff Scott Israel started an investigation into his actions, saying
he should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.”
Peterson was allowed to resign with full pension.
Gualtieri disclosed the subpoena during opening remarks as the commission starts two days of meetings Wednesday and Thursday at the BB and T Center in Sunrise.
During the afternoon portion of Wednesday’s meeting, the commission
will view surveillance videos from outside the school showing Peterson’s
actions during the shooting.
The October meeting will take place Oct. 10-11.” image caption:
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