Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, center, announces that two additional deputies have been fired as a result of the agency's internal affairs investigation into the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, at the Broward Sheriff's Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Wednesday, June 26, 2019. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Law enforcement officers many not have a legal duty to protect citizens, but that doesn’t mean law enforcement agencies are required to continue to employ those who don’t.

Now that Governor Ron DeSantis has dumped the grandstanding, incompetent Scott Israel, the new Broward County Sheriff, Gregory Tony, is continuing to remove those who sat back and allowed 17 people to die during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year.

Today, Sheriff Tony announced the firing of two Broward County Deputies for failure to respond in a timely manner during the shooting. One of the deputies also failed to file a report in 2016 that the shooter had made threats to shoot up the school on his social media accounts.

Here’s the Associated Press’s report . . .

By Curt Anderson

MIAMI (AP) — Two additional deputies have been fired as a result of an internal affairs investigation into the agency’s response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17 people, the Broward County sheriff said Wednesday.

At a brief news conference, Sheriff Gregory Tony said deputies Edward Eason and Josh Stambaugh were fired Tuesday for their inaction following the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting.

“In essence, it was neglect of duty. We lost 17 people,” Tony said.

A state investigative commission found that Stambaugh was working an off-duty shift at a nearby school when he responded to reports of shots fired at the school. He got out of his truck, put on his bulletproof vest and took cover for about five minutes after hearing the shots, according to body camera footage. He then drove to a nearby highway instead of going toward the school.

Eason ran the other way as gunfire continued, then spent time putting on his bulletproof vest and body camera while the carnage continued, investigators said.

Eason was also faulted for not writing an official report after receiving a tip in February 2016 that the shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, was making threats on social media to shoot up a school. Tips to the FBI about Cruz also were not followed up, a separate investigation has found.

Two other deputies were fired earlier this month for neglect of duty. One of those was school resource officer Scot Peterson, who was also arrested on charges of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury. Peterson’s lawyer has said he will fight the charges.

The sheriff said no action was taken on three other deputies who were involved in the investigation.

Scott Israel, the sheriff at the time, was removed from office by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for similar reasons. He is appealing that decision before the state Senate.

Cruz, 20, faces the death penalty if convicted in the shootings. His lawyers have said he will plead guilty in return for a life prison sentence but prosecutors have rejected that offer.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

43 COMMENTS

  1. A competent sheriff? Good to see! Hope that Peterson goes to jail and Israel never a sees another public dime

  2. This is good, but I won’t be completely satisfied until there are literal hangings (after fair trials, of course)

  4. Well, there may not be a national, general duty to protect, but the people who hired you may un-hire you if you decline to protect their kids.

    • RCC,

      I would not go that far if the only factor is that police failed to “storm the castle”. I certainly believe they should be fired, though.

      Now, let us consider that:
      (1) Florida law forbids parents and staff from being armed in school to protect their children.
      (2) Florida police officers will ruin the lives (via imprisonment/death) of anyone who publicly insists on being armed in school to protect their children.
      (3) Florida law enforcement officers refuse to engage attackers and thus guarantee the death of several children in an attack.

      With those THREE conditions in place, that might very well be worthy of hanging legislators and/or police officers from lamp posts since those legislators and police officers are de facto accomplices to the attackers.

      • I think point 1 has been changed by recent legislation. And one of the schools to sign up for staff training was…Marjorie Stoneman Douglass.

      • Hoping as the investigation continues that Sheriff Tony signs arrest warrants for responsible city and county officials.

        Broward County is rotten from the top down.

  6. It’s almost like sheriffs work for the people they serve, not the supremes.

    Who knew?

  7. Can he fire Isreal too, just in case the governor’s termination doesn’t stick?

    Or are his appeals already used up?

  9. While police do not have a duty to protect, I believe that they have a requirement to act if they are in the vicinity of a violent crime.

    • There’s a difference between a legal requirement and a moral/ethical one. They have no legal obligation, but when your job is saving lives, there’s an ethical one.

      • Their job is not to save lives. That is EMS. They had an obligation to stop the shooter, but to act like police exist to save lives or serve help people is naive.

        I am not cop bashing btw, it’s just what they exist for. To enforce laws. Glad they are being held accountable for not maneuvering on the shooter, but I don’t expect an officer to be held accountable for not saving a fallen old lady in the middle of the street when there is a felon to arrest down the road a bit further.

        • But Scot Peterson and co would not let the EMS in until they secured the area. How many people died that could have been saved from timely medical treatment?

        • Open statement to all school “resource officers”:

          When you are hired as a school resource officer, you just wrote a blank check to the students, and their parents. You DAMN WELL DO have a duty to protect, and die trying. If you can’t handle that reality, don’t you dare take the job.

          Since I little confidence in LE to do what is moral, we really need to get you out of the way of protecting our kids. Parents and school employees who have CCW licenses should be able to carry anonymously. Done.

    • A department may institute policies to that effect but the police cannot be held liable in particular civil suits even if they break the policy in question. I think it is also extremely unlikely that the criminal charges will stick as American jurisprudence has long resisted developing affirmative legal mandates to act particularly when you’re putting yourself in danger absent very specific and unusual circumstances.

  10. I do not live in Broward Co.or know Sheriff Tony but his stock just went up in my book. Effing cowards!

  11. Zero duty to protect, act, or lift a finger. I’m curious as to the process that allows for their termination.

    I’d say (Florida employment law may be quite different) the terminated deputies have a high likelihood of getting their jobs back.

    • Most LEOs, after being fired for good cause, just move on to a different dept., different State, etc. Some do this so often they have a nickname. Gypsys.
      Gypsy cops spend a year or two at one department, and then either move on when they get terminated, or more often, when brought up on charges, volunteer to quit in return for the dropping of the charges in question, thus saving the embarrassment of a trial and/or public outing of their actions. And then move on to another department in another area, the public none the wiser.
      One can build a whole career out of corruption in this way. It’s institutionalized. Part of the system.
      One doesn’t get to this level of lawlessness overnight:
      https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-rapes-woman-jail-supervisors-video-threaten-kill-her-offer-taco/

  12. Being fired means just that, they were fired from that particular agency.

    However, if they did not lose their “sworn” part of their credentials they may find employment elsewhere in that State..

    I believe each State has it’s own accrediting department.

    Hopefully some of the retired and active LEOs can shed a little more light into this area.

    I’m sure the firing and other info went into their ‘jacket’ personnel file that will follow them, but who knows.

    Just what I’ve seen in the past.

  13. If I had to spend the rest of my life in a prison I’d just as soon be dead. . As far as I’m concerned those were, are, not police officers. I’d bet my bottom dollar had Gadsden Flag been there things would have went down different.

  14. All the police around here always have their vest and camera on, not in the trunk. What do those deputies do if someone shoots at them?

    • Apparently they take cover, call for backup and wait for the shooting to stop. Then they retire on a pension.

  16. And yet the school district board and school principal have not been affected in the least by their incompetent assistance to the crime at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas H.S.

  17. Good. There’s no crime for dereliction of duty in civilian life like there is in the military but at least you shouldn’t continue being employed.

  18. Sheriff Tony said he was only stepping in until they have elections. Mmmmmmm how do you get a man like this to run???

    He is was no bull shit looks like.

Comments are closed.