What to Know
- Atlantic Beach Police Chief Michelle Cook posted her message on Twitter on February 22nd.
- An investigation by both the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues into the actions of deputies.
A police chief for one North Florida city has a strong message for officers in the wake of the Parkland school tragedy: quit if you don’t think you can risk your life to protect others.
Atlantic Beach Police Chief Michelle Cook posted her message on Twitter on February 22nd in the wake of reports that several members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office, including school resource officer Scot Peterson, allegedly did not enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the mass shooting that killed 17 people eight days before.
Cook’s tweet has been liked nearly 2000 times and retweeted nearly 800 times since it was posted.
An investigation by both the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues into the actions of several officers and deputies from departments that responded to the scene. An attorney for Peterson denied that his client did anything wrong and refuted the claims of Sheriff Scott Israel, saying Peterson was “not a coward.”
"Let there be no mistake, Mr. Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the seventeen victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need," attorney Joseph DiRuzzo said.
"Mr. Peterson is confident that his actions on that day were appropriate under the circumstances and that the video (together with the eye-witness testimony of those on the scene) will exonerate him of any sub-par performance," DiRuzzo added.
Cook was named chief of the city located around 15 miles east of Jacksonville in August of last year after a quarter century with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
