Scot Peterson, the former School Resource Officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida who became known as the ‘coward of Broward’, was acquitted today.

Six jurors deliberated for more than 19 hours over four days at the Broward County Courthouse after closing arguments ended Monday in the trial of Peterson, the first U.S. law enforcement officer tried in connection with a school shooting. Peterson, 60, was accused of not confronting the Parkland gunman for roughly 45 minutes as the then-deadliest high school shooting in American history unfolded on Feb. 14, 2018. Peterson, whom some victims’ families and former colleagues dubbed “the Coward of Broward,” was charged with seven counts of felony child neglect and three of culpable negligence — all of which came from the 10 people who were wounded or killed during the attack on the third floor of the high school’s 1200 building…

His attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, built a defense focused on the testimony of deputies, teachers and students who said in court that they did not know where the shots were coming from. Peterson has long insisted that there was nothing else he could have done to prevent the shooting, contending that the lack of information, the failure of the sheriff’s radio system and the echo of gunfire made it impossible to determine where the shooting was coming from…

Prosecutors brought up other law enforcement officers, teachers and students who said they knew where Nikolas Cruz was shooting and were baffled that Peterson did not know and “chose to run.” Another witness called by state attorneys was Broward County Detective John Curcio, who led the investigation into the massacre. Curcio testified that Peterson did not follow the protocols in place for confronting a gunman during a mass shooting, saying Peterson’s duty during the chaos was “to stop [Cruz] from killing people.”

I can certainly buy that Peterson didn’t immediately know where the shots were coming from. The problem is that he parked himself outside with his gun aimed at a wall and made no effort whatsoever to find out. It was literally his job to find and stop the shooter. In my view that would, at a minimum, include poking your head into the buildings to try to ascertain where he was. But Peterson did nothing.

Peterson broke down in tears as the not guilty verdicts were read.

Scot Peterson, the former school security officer who failed to confront the Parkland shooter who killed 17 people, weeps as he's acquitted on all counts of neglect of a child, culpable negligence and perjury. pic.twitter.com/gyiIclDjEe

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 29, 2023

Afterwards he made a brief statement saying “The only person to blame was that monster.”

Former Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson after being found not guilty on all counts. "The only person to blame was that monster." https://t.co/TgW4eXOku5 pic.twitter.com/1y6k4rQ8sE

— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) June 29, 2023

Peterson didn’t need to remind us he isn’t guilty of murder. He’s right that Nikolas Cruz is responsible for his crimes. But Peterson had a job as an armed school resource officer. The core of that job was protecting kids. He’d had training about what to do in the case of a mass shooting. He knew the FBI teaches officers to confront and neutralize the shooter as quickly as possible. And again, he did nothing. He failed about as completely as he could have failed to do his job that day.

That’s the point that one of the parents who lost a child that day made yesterday prior to the verdict. “The actions of deputy Peterson were anything but heroic,” Tony Montalto said. He continued, “It was cowardice in action. He retreated from being less than 10 feet from the doors to that building. He had the opportunity to swing that door open and see what was going on inside, to see the carnage, but he chose to run away and take a position of cover.

#Parkland parent Tony Montalto told #CourtTV's @JuliaCourtTV, "Regardless of the verdict, [Scot Peterson] did not react properly. He was there to protect our children."#VerdictWatch FL v. #ScotPeterson Parkland School Cop Trial pic.twitter.com/JeeMqj3V4G

— Court TV (@CourtTV) June 28, 2023

Sadly, this isn’t the only time we’ve seen this. The cops in Uvalde similarly failed to follow training, stood around and did nothing while adults and children were bleeding to death. Most of them are still on the job, still collecting a salary for a job they failed to do when it really mattered. These folks will wind up collecting a fat pension and claiming they did their best. What a joke.

For perhaps the first and only time I am in agreement with David Hogg.

Remember even when there ARE cops on campus doesn’t mean they will do a damn thing and when they don’t the system does NOTHING.

The cop in Parkland like those in Uvalde wasn’t a good guy with a gun he was a coward with a gun.

Fuck Scott Petersonhttps://t.co/swGlAmgIV6

— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) June 29, 2023