Cop Who Allegedly Hid During Parkland Shooting to Face Trial

The former Broward County Sheriff's deputy accused of hiding as 17 people were killed during a mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school will face trial. A judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss the 11 charges against Scot Peterson, who was the school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the 2018 shooting took place, the AP reports. Peterson's lawyer says the truth will come out at trial, CNN reports. "The public has been fed a false narrative about Scot Peterson. We have overwhelming evidence proving that the numerous actions that my client took during the attack was done to save lives," the attorney says.

After the Wednesday hearing at which his lawyer argued charges including child negligence and perjury should be dismissed, Peterson, 58, fought back tears as he spoke to journalists, the Sun-Sentinel and Local 10 report. "I did the best that I could with the information," he said. "You know, not only kids died, I have friends that died. And never for a second would I sit there and allow anyone to die, knowing that animal was in that building! Never!" Prosecutors will have to prove Peterson was a caregiver for the students and that his actions exposed them to harm. His lawyer says no other school resource officer has been charged under the statute Peterson is charged under, and that the legal definition of caregiver does not apply to him. (More Parkland school shooting stories.)