Florida sheriff suspended after Parkland shooting fights for his job Scott Israel's lawyer says suspension was knee-jerk reaction
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A lawyer says Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to suspend the sheriff who oversaw the response to the Parkland school shooting was a knee-jerk reaction based on politics.
Those comments came Tuesday at the beginning of a Senate hearing as Scott Israel fights his suspension as Broward County sheriff.
Israel's lawyer, Benedict Kuehne, said DeSantis promised to remove Israel even before he was elected in November and did so before the state's top law enforcement agency finished investigating the response to the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead.
DeSantis' lawyer, Nicholas Primrose, said Israel failed to properly train deputies for active shooting situations. Primrose said 13 months earlier the department's response to a shooting at a Fort Lauderdale airport led to chaos. That shooting left five dead.
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