The father of a student killed in a mass shooting at a Florida high school is suing the armed officer who stood outside the building as kids were massacred inside.
Andrew Pollack said Scot Peterson, who was then a sheriff’s deputy and the school’s resource officer, is his main target in the wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday in Broward County.
Pollack’s 18-year-old daughter Meadow was among the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14.
Peterson could have entered, but instead ‘let all those people get murdered,’ Pollack said.
Andrew Pollack’s 18-year-old daughter Meadow (pictured) was among the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14
Andrew Pollack (pictured at the White House in February) is suing the armed officer who stood outside the building as kids were massacred inside
‘I filed a wrongful death suit against Deputy Peterson today. I want to expose that coward so bad,’ he wrote on Twitter.
‘Where ever he goes I want people to recognize him and say that’s one of the cowards of Broward.
‘The SRO that let those children and teachers die on the 3rd floor!’
In another tweet, Pollack insisted the lawsuit wasn’t for financial gain.
‘This suit has nothing to do with money,’ he wrote.
‘I want to be sure anywhere he goes in this country he will be recognized as the coward that could have gone in and saved the students and teachers on the third floor.’
Peterson (pictured right), a 33-year law enforcement veteran, was suspended without pay after the shooting. He then resigned and retired
‘I filed a wrongful death suit against Deputy Peterson today. I want to expose that coward so bad,’ Andrew Pollack wrote on Twitter
Meadow’ brother Hunter Pollack also branded Peterson a coward in a post on Twitter
Meadow’ brother Hunter also branded Peterson a coward on Twitter.
‘My family wants the world to know this is the guy that hid behind a concrete wall while kids and teachers were killed. He’s a WEASAL [sic] COWARD, and no matter where he goes should be recognized as a failure. He failed to act, and then lied about it after. We will not forget!’
Pollack made headlines after he gave a powerful speech during a listening session at the White House with President Donald Trump in the wake of the shooting.
He has since founded a school safety organization and a memorial fund in his daughter’s name.
Pollack’s lawsuit also names 19-year-old shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, the estate of Cruz’s mother and the couple who took him in when she died.
Cruz is charged with killing 14 teenagers and three adult staff members with an AR-15-style automatic weapon.
The lawsuit also names 19-year-old shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz (pictured), the estate of Cruz’s mother and the couple who took him in when she died
Peterson, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, was suspended without pay after the shooting. The 54-year-old then resigned and retired.
Sheriff Scott Israel said Peterson never went inside the building ‘that was under attack.’
Instead, he ‘took up a position outside which allowed him to view the western entrance of the building.’
Surveillance footage that later emerged showed he remained in the area outside for 20 minutes.
In a statement, his lawyer said allegations that Peterson ‘was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue.’
Parkland activists Alex Wind, Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin, David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez attend the 2018 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24
It comes after students demanding tougher gun laws walked out of classes across the United States on April 20 – the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
Thousands of teenagers held rallies from coast to coast marking the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 1 dead, a massacre seen as the harbinger of an era of school violence.
The protests have been galvanized by the Parkland students, who spearheaded a grassroots campaign for gun control which included another school walkout on March 14 and nationwide rallies on March 24.