The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has seen better days. After the horrific Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida last February, the law enforcement department has been under siege. First, there’s former Officer Scot Peterson, who was assigned to the school. He was the school resource officer, but never went into the building to confront shooter Nikolas Cruz, who was gunning down faculty and students. Video footage confirmed Peterson never went in, prompting outrage. He resigned after he was placed on unpaid leave.
Then, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman, another sheriff’s deputy is suspended for falling asleep while on security detail for the school. Sheriff Scott Israel has said he’s delivered amazing leadership, until something goes wrong—then, it’s not my fault. The sheriff’s office visited the residence of Cruz over 40 times prior to the shooting, with some reports alleging that he had pointed firearms at people’s heads. A deputies’ union voted overwhelmingly against Israel in a no confidence vote, though the embattled sheriff refuses to resign.
Well, now there’s a new development within this office. There appears to have been a cover up of an incident that occurred four years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It involves the sheriff’s son who partook in what appears to be a sexual assault of a then-freshman. Officer Peterson was assigned to the case (via Daily Wire):
A local Miami news station released an explosive report on Thursday night about a "disturbing assault" that happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years to the day before the tragic shooting in February. The alleged incident involved one of the sons of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and was allegedly "covered up" by Officer Scot Peterson, the resource officer who infamously failed to confront the Parkland shooter.
WPLG Local 10 investigative reporter Bob Norman reported Thursday that two 17-year-old students at the school allegedly bullied a 14-year-old freshman boy, with one of the 17-year-olds holding down the student while the other 17-year-old kicked the victim, grabbed his genitals, and then grabbed the victim's own baseball bat and began shoving it against his buttocks "simulating rape" through the boy's clothes.
There were plenty of reasons to support why Israel should resign after the Parkland shooting. Now, there seems to be yet another, albeit unrelated to the school shooting but just as serious. What is going on with this department?