TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A Florida judge has refused to dismiss a negligence lawsuit filed by the parent of a slain Parkland school student against a former deputy who failed to confront the shooter.
The judge on Wednesday rejected arguments by defense attorneys that ex-deputy Scot Peterson had no legal duty to rush into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the Feb. 14 massacre that killed 17 people. Peterson remained outside the entire time.
Attorneys for parent Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in the shooting, contended that as the school's assigned resource officer armed with a gun he had an absolute duty to try to protect the people there.
The lawsuit is one of many filed in the wake of the shooting. Twenty-year-old Nikolas Cruz faces the death penalty if convicted in the slayings. He has offered to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison, but prosecutors reject that.
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