Verdict: Parkland School Resource Officer Scot Peterson Not Guilty

A jury reached a verdict in the case against Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson on Thursday, finding him not guilty on all counts.

CNN noted that Peterson was on trial for charges that included “felony child neglect and culpable negligence stemming from the deaths and injuries that happened on the third floor of the school’s 1200 building” on February 14, 2018.

He also faced a perjury charge tied to things he told investigators after the shooting occurred.

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

Breitbart News noted that surveillance video released March 15 allegedly shows Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson standing outside Parkland school building 12 instead of entering to confront gunman.

On December 12, 2018, Breitbart News pointed to a Sun-Sentinel column in which Peterson’s attorney, Michael Piper, contended that Peterson was not legally bound to enter the building and stop the attack. Piper said, “We want to say he had an obligation, but the law isn’t that. From a legal standpoint, there was no duty.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.