Deputy who stayed outside during Parkland school shooting arrested
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Reporting from Miami — The Florida deputy who failed to confront a gunman during last year’s Parkland massacre has been arrested on 11 charges, prosecutors said Tuesday.
State Atty. Mike Satz said that 56-year-old Scot Peterson faces charges of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury stemming from his actions during the shooting. Peterson, then a Broward County deputy, was on duty during the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School but never went inside.
Satz said the charges carry a combined prison sentence of nearly 100 years. Peterson’s bail was set at $102,000.
A Peterson lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twenty-year-old Nikolas Cruz faces the death penalty if convicted of killing 17 people and wounding 17 others in the attack. He has offered to plead guilty in return for a life sentence, but prosecutors have refused that offer.
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