Scott Peterson
- Thread starter TarHeelEer
- Start date
I know. You guys support him being charged or is this just a post on the current event?
I don’t have a position yet as I’ve not familiarized myself with it. I recall a lot of chatter when it went down about him being ordered to not go in and some other stuff, but I don’t know how they’re trying to apply the charges specifically to the investigation. I’m guessing if they found enough evidence through the 10 month investigation to charge him, then we’ll get to find out whether he was derelict in his duties and whether or not that dereliction was responsible for the murder of those kids. Seems more applicable than charging the gun manufacturer, though.
Very well. I'm mostly in the same boat. I definitely can see this guy being held responsible civilly but not being an expert from a legal perspective, I'm unsure he is criminally responsible.
I'm going to find this one interesting but sure as hell hope there is a legal standing before further ruining this guy's life.
I tend to agree with you. I understand him losing his job. I get the perjury charges if he lied under oath during the investigation of his actions during the shooting. Going beyond that, assuming that they aren't trying to prove that he worked with the shooter, seems slippery slope-ish to me. Can we then charge a cop who didn't stop someone he saw running a red light at one intersection if that driver then does the same thing at another intersection and causes an accident? Does that accident have to involve fatalities in order to charge the cop, or would significant property damage be a high enough threshold?
So, a trained, armed officer didn’t confront the shooter and you idiots want to arm teachers? Seems like a swell plan.
I have to agree with this sentiment. While it's easy for one to say that he should have just rushed into the building blindly, it's another to actually be faced with the reality of it. It's conceivable that there legitimate reasons, tactical or not, that made it better for him to remain outside of the school.
We have seen kids lately with bigger balz than this cop had , without a weapon they stopped a shooter & this guy was on the payroll, trained & equipped to stop a criminal but decided to hold up outside....
We have beaten the horse to death on what the country should do about these mass shootings and we will continue in the future, I am sure. Let me take the liberty to take it a different direction.
I saw a quote of a father of one of the girls that died saying something like he hopes this guy rots in jail. I understand that emotion and I most certainly sympathize with everyone that lost a loved one. I also believe this officer probably doesn't live a day without questioning his behavior that day and has lived in hell. Personally, I wish he would have acted differently but he didn't.
If you were this father, could you find it in your heart to forgive this officer for not acting differently or would you actually wish he would rot in jail? I would try real hard to forgive him. May take years and I may not ever get fully there, but I would try. I would not wish he would rot in jail.
If you don't want to participate in my off topic angle to this, I understand. I hope anyone that does answer, please be respectful. There isn't really a right answer so don't be judgemental of others that share their opinion on the subject. It is a tough subject.
I saw a quote of a father of one of the girls that died saying something like he hopes this guy rots in jail. I understand that emotion and I most certainly sympathize with everyone that lost a loved one. I also believe this officer probably doesn't live a day without questioning his behavior that day and has lived in hell. Personally, I wish he would have acted differently but he didn't.
If you were this father, could you find it in your heart to forgive this officer for not acting differently or would you actually wish he would rot in jail? I would try real hard to forgive him. May take years and I may not ever get fully there, but I would try. I would not wish he would rot in jail.
If you don't want to participate in my off topic angle to this, I understand. I hope anyone that does answer, please be respectful. There isn't really a right answer so don't be judgemental of others that share their opinion on the subject. It is a tough subject.
I want to give the teachers the option to receive training and arm themselves if they so choose. I don’t want to mandate it.
He's eligible for a pretty good pension. He definitely should lose that. How much prison time? Not sure. Life is pretty steep for being a chicken.
If he just froze up, obviously he's in the wrong line of work. Firing him makes sense. If he lied to cover stuff up during the investigation, I think you have potential criminality there. Fine, prosecute him for that. It's the other charges that strike me as odd, unless maybe he was drunk or something.
It would be hard, but I would have to I think.
It doesn't help that they had a single officer patrolling a school of that size (in both enrollment and square footage). If I'm in that situation, I would assume that the first step is to secure myself and anyone around me. And then, only if I was certain that those around me were no longer in danger, would I proceed to "investigate" what was happening. I said shortly after this shooting that every school should have a series of surveillance cameras that are monitored full time so that active and accurate reports and information could be passed along to any and all resource officers and security. He should have been in a position to know, via radio what was happening in other parts of the school through that surveillance systems. Combine that will all doors going immediately into a security lock down automatically to contain any shooter or threat. Ultimately the last thing you would want to do is have a single officer blindly proceed into that type of situation.
Imo we are gonna have to read the charging docs or wait until trial to understand all the charges. Some of that may already be out there but I havent searched.
Didn't SCOTUS find in 2005 that Police Officers don't have a constitutional duty to protect people? Scalia wrote the opinion I believe. Seems like that will play into a lot of this.
He probably gets nicked on the perjury charge and skates on the rest, even if it is on appeal.
He probably gets nicked on the perjury charge and skates on the rest, even if it is on appeal.
The officer wasn't sitting in the class room with the shooter while the kids were and were faced with fight or die.
You are correct, I don't think arming teachers is the answer particularly forced arming of them.
I think there are some nutjob teachers that would jump at a chance to arm themselves just for an intimidation factor. If it’s concealed with penalty if a teacher even discusses being armed, I might think differently. Some students might feel safer knowing a teacher has a gun, some might feel the complete opposite. Depends on the student, depends on the teacher.
Depends what the neglect charge is based on. If he was where he needed to be and couldnt stop it he is probably not guilty of it. If he was boinking a secretary in the lounge, that would be different.
How many accidental/improper shootings do we have with police yearly? Does anyone believe that isnt going to happen with teachers armed as well?
I can guarantee if teachers are armed, students will be shot. We will see headlines like...
"Teacher shoots, kills unarmed student."
"Accidental discharge injures 2nd grader."
Etc.
I can guarantee if teachers are armed, students will be shot. We will see headlines like...
"Teacher shoots, kills unarmed student."
"Accidental discharge injures 2nd grader."
Etc.
Apparently you are saying it is an "Apple/Orange" issue and not a "Black/White" issue... I will agree with that since if it was a "Black/White" issue KKkkuntry would have it covered.....