Judge in lawsuit brought by Parkland victims hinged on ‘duty to protect’ and her ruling angered many

 

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Over the summer fifteen teen survivors of the massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida filed a federal lawsuit against local officials, their school and the Broward Sheriff’s Office for having failed to protect them during the Feb. 14 shooting.

In a stunning ruling, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom has since formally dismissed the entire suit on the basis that none of the defendants had been constitutionally obliged to protect them.

“[T]he critical question the Court analyzes is whether defendants had a constitutional duty to protect plaintiffs from the actions of [shooter Nikolaz] Cruz,” she wrote in a Dec. 12 ruling, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “As previously stated, for such a duty to exist on the part of defendants, plaintiffs would have to be considered to be in custody.”

None of the fifteen survivors were in custody at the time that Cruz opened fire, killing 14 of their peers and three of their teachers. They had however been in class at the high school.

“Absent that type of restraint, there can be no concomitant duty to provide for the student’s safety and general well-being,” her shocking ruling concluded.

Bloom, who was appointed to her post by former President Barack Obama, basically said that when parents send their kids to school every morning, they should not expect them to be safe.

This despite how much money Americans pay in taxes to fund not only every public school in America, including Stoneman Douglas, but every police station as well, as noted by social media:

What made Bloom’s ruling seem particularly galling to many were the confirmed failures of the Broward Sheriff’s Office, whose officers literally stood outside during the shooting.

A total of four local deputies cowered behind their cruisers with their pistols drawn after the shooting began. Why? Because of orders up top, according to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

“Our sources near the Broward County Sheriff’s Department are telling us that the deputies who arrived at the scene of the shooting were told not to enter the school unless their body cameras were turned on,” she said at the time. “Then we found out that the deputies did not have body cameras, so they did not enter the building or engage the shooter.”

Listen:

To make matters worse, the head honcho in charge — Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, a Democrat — refused to accept any blame for the disaster, choosing instead to suggest to CNN’s Jake Tapper that he deserved kudos for his “amazing leadership.”

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

Reports published in the days after the shooting also revealed that that the FBI, the local school board and Israel’s department had all been aware of the shooter before he opened fire.

Yet none of them ever took any concrete actions to stop Cruz:

But Bloom feels otherwise and has chosen via her ruling to abdicate every institution that failed Parkland’s fifteen teen survivors of their obligations on the basis that they have no obligations.

What remains unclear is whether her ruling will hold. The Sentinel notes that last week another judge rejected an attempt by former deputy Scot Peterson — one of the deputies who stood outside — to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by the family of Parkland victim Meadow Pollack.

“[Judge] Englander Henning found that Peterson had a duty to the school community as someone whose job was security and who had an ‘obligation to act reasonably’ under the circumstances of the shooting,” the Sentinel reported.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

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