Scot Peterson, the sheriff’s deputy vilified for failing to confront the Parkland school shooter, has begun receiving a state pension of $8,702.35 a month. 
 
 Peterson resigned and retired Feb. 22, a week after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he waited outside as Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and wounded 17 others. 
 
 Peterson began to receive his pension in April, according to the Florida Department of Management Services. He can receive the payments for the rest of his life. 
 
 The 55-year-old Peterson, a Broward deputy for 32 years, was paid $101,879.03 last year — $75,673.72 in base salary plus overtime and other compensation, according to sheriff’s office records. Until the shooting, he was considered a trusted school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas, according to annual reviews of his performance. 
 
 He was eligible to retire from the agency in July 2010 when he had 25 years of service, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said Wednesday. 
 
 On Feb. 14, surveillance video showed Peterson waiting outside the school as Cruz prowled the halls with an AR-15 rifle. President Donald Trump branded Peterson a coward, and Sheriff Scott Israel began an investigation into his actions. Israel said Peterson should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.” 
 
 The investigation into Peterson’s response is ongoing, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said Wednesday. 
 
 After the shooting, Peterson said in a statement that he heard gunshots but believed that they were coming from outside of the school and not inside the building where the shooting took place. 
 
 An attorney representing Peterson did not respond to an email Tuesday requesting comment. 
 
 Peterson’s pension payments are based on the total number of years he worked and the average of his five highest-paid fiscal years, according to a state pension handbook. 
 
 Health benefits are not included in the monthly amount, according to a Department of Management Services spokeswoman. That information would have to be provided by his former employer, she said. 
 
 Peterson has medical insurance through the sheriff’s office, an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday. 
 
 Peterson would not be entitled to his pension if he were convicted of a crime such as embezzlement or bribery. 
 
 Neither the sheriff’s office nor the state attorney have indicated “any charges or other circumstances” that would justify withholding Peterson’s pension, Erin Rock, secretary for the Department of Management Services, concluded in a letter March 28. 
 
 A state commission is reviewing the police response to the shooting. 
 
 “Because no charges have been filed, the state is required to provide his pension under Florida law but our agency will be closely monitoring the [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] investigation for any updates,” a spokesman for Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement Thursday. “If FDLE finds that anyone has broken any laws, they will be held fully accountable.” 
 
 Peterson was sued last month by Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in the shooting. 
 
 Asked for comment Tuesday, Pollack said: “This guy is a disgrace. It doesn’t change when he looks in the mirror. … He’s a disgrace and a coward.” 
 
 Of the pension, he said: “He’s going to take it.” Ideally, Pollack said, the money should go toward school safety or scholarships for wounded students. “But there’s nothing we can do about it.” 
 
 Pollack also tweeted about Peterson’s pension: “The coward of broward, Scot Peterson is getting over $8k a month pension! He hid while my daughter and 16 others were slaughtered! How in the hell is he getting this? That money should go to actually securing our schools!” 
 
 Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed, tweeted: “This infuriates me in ways people cannot comprehend. My daughter would still be alive if this person did his job.” 
 
 Peterson, a native of Illinois, started with the sheriff’s office in July 1985, after studying at Miami-Dade Community College and Florida International University. 
 
 shobbs@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4520 or @bystephenhobbs ||||| Watch surveillance video outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during shooting 
 
 The Broward Sheriff's Office released an unedited of surveillance video outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during and after confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018.
– The school resource officer widely criticized for his response to the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting is now the target of abuse over his six-figure pension. Scot Peterson, 55, who retired a week after 17 people died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as he stood outside, began receiving a monthly state pension of $8,702.35 in April, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Over a year, the payments add up to $104,428.20, a few thousand dollars more than Peterson made in his last of 32 years as a Broward County sheriff's deputy, per the Miami Herald. "This guy is a disgrace," says Andrew Pollack, who's suing Peterson over his daughter's death in the shooting. "This infuriates me in ways people cannot comprehend," adds Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was also killed. She "would still be alive if this person did his job." Peterson, who is to receive the payments until his death, has claimed he took up a "tactical position" outside the school, believing the shots weren't originating inside. However, he's heard on a recording identifying shots as coming from a school building. The police response to the shooting is under review by a state commission, but a March letter from Florida's Department of Management Services notes the sheriff's office and state attorney haven't indicated "any charges or other circumstances" to warrant withholding the pension payments. They do not account for health benefits and are based on years worked and the average of Peterson's five highest-paid fiscal years, per the Sun Sentinel. Records show Peterson earned a base salary of $75,673.72 last year. With overtime and other compensation, his earnings totaled $101,879.03.