Deputy who failed to confront Parkland school shooter getting pension of $8,702 per month
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Florida sheriff's deputy who failed to confront a gunman during a Feb. 14 school massacre is receiving a monthly state pension of $8,702.35. The SunSentinel reports 55-year-old Scot Peterson, who resigned and retired after the shootings, began receiving payments in April.
Surveillance video showed Peterson outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as the gunman killed 17 people inside with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said Peterson should have gone inside. President Donald Trump called Peterson a coward.
"He could've really saved everyone on that third floor that day," said Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was shot to death inside the school on Valentine's Day.
Peterson later said he thought the shots were coming from outside the building.
Pension payments are based on the 32 years he worked and the average of his five highest-paid fiscal years.
Shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz has been jailed since the shooting. He faces 17 charges of first-degree murder.