Now retired, Peterson is set to appear in a televised interview for the first time.
The officer who was nationally shamed after he was reportedly caught on surveillance video standing against a wall as February's deadly Parkland school shooting unfolded, is breaking his months-long silence.
"It's haunting," Scot Peterson told The Washington Post. "The bottom line is I was there to protect and I lost."
In his first on-air interview since Nikolas Cruz allegedly killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, Peterson tells the "Today" show's Savannah Guthrie why he didn't entered the building as the shots were fired.
While defending his actions, Peterson said in the interview set to air Tuesday that he'd do it differently if given the chance.
Peterson faced criticism from not only his boss, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, but President Trump himself, who called the officer a "coward."
Peterson was given the option to retire early and he now receives a full pension of nearly $100,000 per year.
The Peterson interviews come just days after survivors and others from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas class of 2018 attended a bittersweet graduation ceremony.
Surprising those in attendance at the private ceremony was none other than late night host Jimmy Fallon.
Fallon used the opportunity Saturday to praise the students' bravery and perseverance.
"You took something horrific and instead of letting it stop you, you started a movement," Fallon said in a speech as funny as it was heartfelt. "Not just here in Florida and not just in America, but throughout the whole world. That was you, choosing to take something awful and using it to make a change. That was you, choosing hope over fear.”
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