Scot Peterson Branded 'Coward' In Parkland Lawsuit

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — The father of an 18-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who was killed during the Parkland school massacre, filed a lawsuit against the accused gunman and the Broward Sheriff's deputy who failed to confront him. Andrew Pollack branded School Resource Officer Scot Peterson "pusillanimous" and a "coward" for failing to try to save his daughter, Meadow. One week after the Valentine's Day mass shooting, Pollack told President Trump he couldn't understand why he can't get a bottle of water past airport security yet the gunman who ended his daughter's life was able to bring an AR-15 assault rifle into her school and open fire.

"I filed a wrongful death suit against Deputy Peterson today," Andrew Pollack said on social media. "I want to expose that coward so bad. Wherever 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 third floor."

According to the 26-page lawsuit, Meadow Pollack was initially shot four times as she left her third-floor classroom in Building 12 and still tried to save a classmate.

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"In an awe-inspiring display of heroism and fortitude after being shot, Meadow Pollack, crawled down the hallway to another student, a freshman," the lawsuit said. "Meadow Pollack then laid her bullet-riddled body on top of the other student, who had not yet been shot, in an attempt to protect the freshman."

For that she would pay a higher price, according to the lawsuit. "Nikolas Cruz was unrelenting in his savagery," the lawsuit said. "He pointed his assault rifle at Meadow Pollack's back and shot into it repeatedly. The bullets pierced through Meadow Pollack's back and into the child beneath her, killing both students. In a final act of barbarity, Nikolas Cruz shot Meadow Pollack in the head."

With respect to Peterson, the lawsuit quoted Chinese philosopher Confucius in describing his failure to enter Building 12: "To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice," the lawsuit charged. "Scot Peterson is a coward."

Peterson, who abruptly retired when informed he was being suspended without pay for his actions related to the horrific shooting in which 17 students and faculty members were killed, has maintained that his actions were "appropriate under the circumstances," according to a statement previously released through Fort Lauderdale attorney Joseph A. DiRuzzo, III, who is representing Peterson.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit were three mental health providers that failed to recognize the threat posed by Cruz, the couple who allowed him to bring guns into their home and the estate of Cruz' adopted mother.

"It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it," Pollack memorably told President Trump at the White House in the days following the tragedy. "And I'm pissed because my daughter — I'm not going to see again."

The family of a 15-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivor who was shot five times while trying to shield his classmates also filed a lawsuit against the mental health providers, James and Kimberly Snead and the estate of Lynda Cruz. That student, Anthony Borges, has been dubbed "Iron Man" for his heroic efforts.

Pollack's lawsuit charged that Peterson "from his safe and cowardly position" called for the school to be placed on lockdown multiple times during the rampage, preventing students and teachers from escaping the carnage.

"The pusillanimous Scot Peterson remained safe in his position away from Nikolas Cruz, never once attempting to go inside Building 12 where the school resource officer knew the shooting was taking place, never once attempting to save a life, never once attempting to fire a single bullet at Nikolas Cruz."

Moreover, the lawsuit claimed that aside from the shooter, Peterson was the only other person on the campus between 2:22 p.m. and 2:27 p.m. — the time the shooter was firing at students and faculty members — who was armed and trained to deal with an active shooter.

"When Scot Peterson was observed on surveillance footage at 2:23:44 cowering at the southeast corner of Building 12, Nikolas Cruz had not yet gone to the third floor and killed Meadow Pollack," the lawsuit charged.

Andrew Pollack is joined by his sons as he addresses a listening session with President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 21. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/GettyImages.