Former Parkland school deputy arrested on 11 charges tied to shooting

georgel

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I of course think he should have gone in, but it will be interesting on how this turns out legally. Was he trained to engage an active shooter or was he old school and trained to contain until SWAT arrives? There will be a lot of moral indignation, but I'm curious about the legal implications.

Peterson, 56, is charged with seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, FDLE officials announced.




“The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a statement.


Peterson was the sole school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting. He became infamous for retreating and hiding as shots rang out as the massacre developed.



https://www.politico.com/states/flo...rested-on-11-charges-tied-to-shooting-1041191
 
Well, I believe they are all trained to go in imediately now and have been for a while. Doesn't matter if he was old school or not, he was probably trained to go in. I guess he thought differently though. We will see what happens.
 
That kind of makes me happy. How can you stand there with a uniform on while that's taking place and not do not a bleepity bleepity thing?
 
It serves him right. I wounder that the POS can't have a gun, will the Sheriff's office provide him with security. It would be nice somebody saved the taxpayer some money.
 

Already moved to Tortuga! :eek: This one is probably close behind!

General question for those that know law...isn’t there settled case law on a “duty to protect” in regards to police...i.e. there being none? If so, I’m guessing that’s his defense for the majority of charges? I’m guessing they’ll get him on the “lying to investigators” charge though.
 
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I think the perjury might stick. The rest is too neatly packaged to coincide with another fresh shooting to be credible.
 
Already moved to Tortuga! :eek: This one is probably close behind!

General question for those that know law...isn’t there settled case law on a “duty to protect” in regards to police...i.e. there being none? If so, I’m guessing that’s his defense for the majority of charges? I’m guessing they’ll get him on the “lying to investigators” charge though.
1. I OCR'd an old PDF (attached) to get this so please excuse what appear to be typos.
2. Again, this came from an old document so I do not know if any of the links are still good, but you can search the case name and you will find them.
3. Can we really legislate bravery, or more to the point, legislate against any cowardice, real or perceived?

Enjoy!

This makes it very clear -the burden to defend and or use deadly force, is a RIGHT that lies with you personally to ACT accordingly and appropriately should you fear for your life and/or limb.

Affirmative duty to protect Cf. Reciprocal obligations; South v. Maryland, 59 U.S. (How) 396, 15 L.Ed.433 (1856) (the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local law-enforcement had no duty to protect individuals, but only a general duty to enforce the laws );

DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, 489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct 998, 1989 (1989) (There is no merit to petitioner's contention that the State's knowledge of his danger and expressions of willingness to protect him against that danger established a "special relationship" giving rise to an affirmative constitutional duty to protect While certain "special relationships" created or assumed by the State with respect to particular individuals may give rise to an affirmative duty, enforceable through the Due Process (489 U.S. 189, 190] Clause, to provide adequate protection, see Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97; Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307, the affirmative duty to protect arises not from the State's knowledge of the individual's predicament or from its expressions of intent to help him, but from the limitations which it has imposed on his freedom to act on his own behalf, through imprisonment, institutionalization, or other similar restraint of personal liberty); http://laws findlaw>com/us/489/189.html

Bowers v. Devito, 686 E2d 616 (7th Cir 1982) (There is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen. It is monstrous if the state fails to protect its residents against such predators but it does not violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, or, we suppose, any other provision of the Constitution. The Constitution is a charter of negative liberties; it tells the state to let the people alone; it does not require the federal government or the state to provide services, even so elementary a service as maintaining law and order); (No duty to protect)= Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss;Cf. Reciprocial obligations;

Warren v. District of Columbia (444 A.2d 1, 1981) (Official police personnel and the government employing them are not generally liable to victims of criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection ... this uniformly accepted rule rests upon the fundamental principle that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular citizen . .. a publicly maintained police force constitutes a basic governmental service provided to benefit the community at large by promoting public peace, safety and good order.); htt//forums.philos

Hartzler v. City of San Jose, 46 CaLApp 3d 6, 120 CaLRptr 5 (1975) (The administrator of the estate of Ruth Bunnell who had been killed by her estranged husband brought a wrongful death action against the city whose police department refused to respond to her call for protection some 45 minutes before her death. Mrs. Bunnell had called the police to report that Mack Bunnell had called saying he was on his way to her home to kill her She was told to call back when Mack Bunnell arrived. The police had responded 20 times to her calls in the past year, and on one occasion, arrested her estranged husband for assaulting her. The Court of Appeal held that the police department and its employees enjoyed absolute immunity for failure to provide sufficient police protection. The allegations that the police had responded 20 times to her calls did not indicate that the police department had assumed any special relationship or duty toward her such as would remove itsimmunity.); http //www copcrimes com/brophy.artler

Davidson v. City of Westminister, 32 CaL3d 197, 185 CaLRptr 252 (1982) (A husband and wife who were assaulted in a laundromat while the assailant was under survillance by officers, brought legal action against the city and the officers for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and for negligent investigation, failure to protect and failure to warn. The Supreme Court held that: (1) the mere fact that the officers had previously recognized the assailant from a distance as a potential assailant because of his resemblance to a person suspected of perpetrating a prior assault did not establish a "special relationship" between officers and assailant under which a duty would be imposed on officers to control assailant's conduct; (2) factors consisting of office's prior recognition of assailant as likely perpetrator of previous assault and officer's surveillance of assailant in laundromat in which victim was present did not give rise to special relationship between officers and victim so as to impose duty on officers to protect victim from assailant; and (3) victim could not maintain cause of action for intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress, in view of fact that it was not alleged that officers failed to act for the purpose of causing emotional injury, and that in the absence of such an intent to injure, officer's inaction was not extreme or outrageous conduct); http:/wwcopcrimes.com /brophy htm#Harler

Westbrooks v. State, 173 Ca1App3d 1203, 219 CaLRtr 674 (1985) (The widow and sons of a motorist who drove into the void where a collapsed bridge had been, brought action against the State, county, and county deputy sheriff. The California Department of Transportation (Cal Trans) was aware that a violent storm with heavy rains had caused a bridge on State route 118 to collapse. A county deputy sheriff had observed the beginning of the collapse, reported it and requested assistance from Cal Trans. A jury award of $1,300,000 was reversed in part by the Court of Appeal which held: (1) the county deputy sheriff had no duty to warn drivers that the state highway bridge had collapsed during the storm, and his effort to warn drivers did not in any way increase the risk of harm to users of the highway, and therefore the county was not liable to motorist's wife and children; and (2) the judgment was upheld against the state because the Cal Trans was notified at 1 52 a.m. and at 2:35 a.m., but no Cal Trans personnel nor CHP officer appeared at the scene until 5 45 a.m., and that such delay was unreasonable.); http://ww.copcrimes.com/rophyhtmHartler

Ne Casek v. City of Los Angeles, 233 Cal.App 2d 131, 43 CaLRptr 294 (1965) (In an action against police officers and city for personal injuries sustained by Kathryne Ne Casek when she was knocked down on a sidewalk by two suspects who had been arrested by the officers, the Court of Appeal held the amount of force or method used by a police officer in attempting to keep an arrested person or persons in custody is a discretionary act for purpose of application of doctrine of immunity of government officials from civil liability for their discretionary acts, and therefore Ms. Ne Casek who was injured by two escaped suspects who had been handcuffed together could not maintain an action against the arresting officers based on the officer's alleged negligence in using insufficient force to keep the prisoners in custody) http://www.copcrimes.com/brophy.htm#hartzler

Susman v. City of Los Angeles, et aL, 269 CaLApp 2d 803, 75 CaLRptr 240 (1969) (An action was brought by several landowners against the City of Los Angeles and the State pleading eleven separate causes of action for damages arising out of the Watts'Riots' of 1965. The Court of Appeal held that none of the allegations presented was sufficient to show any duty owed by any of the officials named as defendants to act to prevent or avoid the harm suffered by the plaintiffs.); http://ww.copcrimes.com/rophyhtmHartler

Antique Arts Corpv. City of Torrence, 39 Ca1App.3d 588, 114 CaLRptr. 332 (1974) (A silent burglar alarm installed on the premises of the store operated by the plaintiff was, during the course of a robbery by two armed men, activated at 3:32 p.m and the alert message was relayed to the police department

The dispatch message to the units in the field was at 3:43 pm , and a police unit arrived at the scene of the robbery at 3:44 p.m The delay in the transmission of the dispatch enabled the robbers to complete the robbery and escape with jewelry and merchandise in the amount of $49,000. The Court of Appeal held that Govt Code section 846 provides for immunity if no police protection is provided; or, if police protection is provided, but that protection is not sufficient. "The statutory scheme makes it clear that failure to provide adequate police protection will not result in governmental liability, nor will a public entity be liable for failure to arrest a person who is violating the law. The statutory scheme shows legislative intent to immunize the police function from tort liability from the inception of its exercise to the point of arrest, regardless of whether the action be labeled discretionary or ministerial'"); http //wwwcopcrimes.com/br
 

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Even sending a few shots towards the shooter would've forced him to duck and hide. Could've bought time and saved a lot of lives just by creating a 2 way range.
 
Most of the charges look like a stretch to be able to have a satisfying show trial, ultimately getting a conviction only on the perjury count.

I seriously doubt that Florida law or court cases identify a law enforcement officer as a “caregiver” who is "responsible for a child’s welfare" under Florida's GS 827.03. Culpable negligence under Florida's GS 784.05 would seem to run fairly quickly into the Supreme Court's precedents on law enforcement not generally having a personalized obligation to protect individuals.

The thing that will be most interesting is that most of the precedents deal with private civil actions against law enforcement officers, while this is a public criminal action against a law enforcement officer.
 
The fact that he is still here,
The fact that he didn’t commit sepuku over this is very telling. It tells you of his character, that he is a coward. That he has no honor, that he is a disgrace to his uniform.
I hope he gets maxed out.
I hope he gets some extra special loving from the fellas on his cell block.
 
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All he had to do was go inside, radio what he observed, yes he was outgunned with only his service weapon, not sure if he had access to a rifle in his vehicle.
Instead he stood there, with his massive gut lap, and we all know the rest. He had a pie job, overweight, bet he'd pass out if he had to run 100 yds.

This is from Tulsa, OK. No way that coward from Broward could run like this.

 
All he had to do was go inside, radio what he observed, yes he was outgunned with only his service weapon, not sure if he had access to a rifle in his vehicle.
Instead he stood there, with his massive gut lap, and we all know the rest. He had a pie job, overweight, bet he'd pass out if he had to run 100 yds.

This is from Tulsa, OK. No way that coward from Broward could run like this.




What kinds of idiots keeps driving through the line of site of people pointing guns? Good lord people.
 
With any luck, the outrage that will occur when he isn’t convicted on the basis of having zero duty to protect will result in people waking the hell up about the realities of relying on government and dial a prayer for your safety.

If they were ever going to wake up to that fact it would have already happened...

What kinds of idiots keeps driving through the line of site of people pointing guns? Good lord people.

They probably didn't see the cop, only the body on the ground...

Had a Trooper back in my GSP days that froze on his partner and almost cost him his life. He stood by and did nothing while his partner got the crap beat out of him, and was shot twice, only being saved by other responding units and a soft vest. The "do nothing" Trooper's career was over because no one would work with him going forward. I had guys threatening to quit if they had to ride with him, no choice, termination with cause.....

I thought the Broward Coward had retired???
 
He retired immediately following the shooting and basically went into hiding over backlash from his disgrace.
 
While I agree that what he did was reprehensible, I really think the state is stretching the facts to charge him criminally. There is no Article 99 for police officers (UCMJ Cowardice in the face of the enemy). If this goes forward, I think the potential for abuse by the state is high.

Like Mike V mentioned in his post above, most of the case law concludes that the police have no duty to protect, and these are civil cases. I think for criminal the burden would be shifted even more in favor of the police.

The unexpected consequence of such a criminal charge and conviction is that the county would probably be liable for damages to the victims.
 
He will walk after spending some of his six digit pension on legal team.
 
Guy really wouldn't have had to do much in the way of "going in" to get the perps attention. A few shots in the floor might have given kids some time to scoot.....

I think he's probably a cowardly roach now being made a patsy by a bureaucracy looking for someone to hang organization failure on.
 
Tulsa cop did an awesome job of pursuit followed by some amped up accurate shooting.
 
I posted this in the other thread downstairs in Tortuga:

In my opinion, and I'm certainly not defending his lack of action that fateful day, but if they are going to charge this guy with crimes, then they need to go back and charge every single armed officer that responded to the Columbine massacre and waited outside while the massacre continued inside the building.
 
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