A South Florida police officer who was fired for failing to immediately act in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will get his job back along with full back pay and seniority, according to several news reports.
Broward County Sheriff Sgt. Brian Miller was one of four deputies fired last year after an investigation found the officers “neglected their duties” in response to the massacre that left 17 dead and 17 injured.
Miller was the first supervising officer to arrive on the scene and immediately heard gunshots, according to previous news reports.
A state panel investigated the shooting and found that Miller sat, took his time putting on a bulletproof vest and also hid behind his police cruiser.
“Miller failed to coordinate or direct deputies’ actions and did not direct or coordinate an immediate response into the school,” a report from the commission said.
But on Wednesday an arbitrator overturned the case, concluding that Miller’s due process rights were violated when Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony terminated him, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, citing a statement by the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association Union.
The deadliest high school shooting in the nation’s history happened on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Police say Nikolas Cruz, a former student, entered the Parkland, Florida, high school armed with an assault-style rifle and opened fire.
Scot Peterson, the deputy assigned to the school, heard shots but also took cover instead of rushing in to confront the gunman, the investigation found. He was later fired and charged with multiple counts of child neglect.
The shooting exposed widespread failures at the sheriff's office, and eventually led to the ouster of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced Israel with Gregory Tony, who fired Miller and deputies Joshua Stambaugh and Edward Eason.
Miller earned around $137,000 a year in 2018, according to The Associated Press.
Cruz is currently awaiting trial.
— Information provided by The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
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