Broward Cop Suspended After Being Caught Sleeping While Guarding Stoneman Douglas High School

What an awful clown show the Broward County Sheriff’s Office is under Sheriff Scott Israel. Today, BSO Deputy Moises Carotti was suspended after he was observed sleeping in his patrol car while on duty guarding Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a shooting last month left 17 students and teachers dead, and an additional 17 wounded.

According to the report by WPLG, Carotti was spotted by a student at the high school a little after 5:00 pm Monday in his car, parked outside the 1200 building, the site of the shooting. The student told another deputy on campus, who then went to Carotti’s car and woke him up. Carotti was taken off duty and replaced with another deputy.

There’s no claiming that Carotti’s dereliction of duty was harmless. Barely a half an hour before the sleeping cop was caught, Zachary Cruz, the 18-year-old brother of the school shooter, was arrested for trespassing on campus (obviously, by some other officers who had managed to stay awake on duty).

As RedState reported yesterday, Cruz had been repeatedly warned to stay away from the school but still made it on to campus after he “surpassed all locked doors and gates,” telling the officers arresting him that he wanted to “reflect on the school shooting and soak it in.”

There’s no way to say for sure that Carotti would have been able to prevent Cruz from entering campus if he had been awake, but that task was certainly within his job duties.

Since the shooting, Stoneman Douglas High School has been the focus of national media attention, as well as increased threats and risks of attempts by copycats.

Just today, two students were arrested for bringing weapons to campus, and a third was taken into custody for a psychological evaluation under the Baker Act after he posted threatening messages online.

After this very troubling day, Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) sent a letter to Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel ordering him to provide an armed officer at every entrance to Stoneman Douglas High.

Considering the already horrifically long list of concerns about the BSO — the dozens of visits to the shooter’s home that never resulted in an arrest, their policy of avoiding juvenile arrests even for serious and violent crimes, the four BSO deputies who remained outside the school during the shooting, and Israel’s own clownish attempts to repair his tattered reputation — perhaps Scott should have specifically told Israel to post “armed officers who are awake” at the school.

If you aren’t outraged enough, remember these are all government jobs, with salaries paid by the taxpayers of Broward County…

…and Deputy Carotti has been suspended with pay.

Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter: @rumpfshaker.

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