When a shooter opened fire at a Florida high school in 2018, a former deputy of the sheriff's office was found not guilty of failing to protect the students.
Scot Peterson was outside when the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting occurred in Parkland, Florida, not far from Miami.
The resource officer at the school, Mr. Peterson, was cleared of 11 charges, including felony child neglect, culpable negligence, and perjury.
17 people were killed and 17 injured in the attack, one of the deadliest at a US school.
As the unanimous verdicts were read out in court in Fort Lauderdale, Mr. Peterson started crying and was then hugged by his visibly upset attorney.
During the assault on February 14, 2018, Mr. Peterson, according to the prosecution, disregarded his training.
The defense, however, emphasized Mr. Peterson's lengthy career and claimed that he was misinformed about the shooting's location and that he did not qualify as a "caregiver" under the definition of the term as it applies to parents or daycare providers who injure their charges when a child is in their charge.
