Dispatcher testifies that failing radios hampered deputies’ response to Parkland school massacre

By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy’s response to the 2018 Parkland school massacre was hampered by a radio system that collapsed. That was the testimony Friday from a Broward County sheriff’s office dispatcher during the trial of former Deputy Scot Peterson. He was the campus deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He is charged with failing to act during the Valentine’s Day 2018 shooting that left 17 dead. The dispatcher said the radio system in Parkland was long known to have serious problems. It collapsed from overuse during the massacre. Peterson says that one reason he didn’t act is that he didn’t know what other deputies were seeing and hearing.