PARKLAND, Fla. – Andrew Medina told investigators he saw Nikolas Cruz carrying a rifle bag into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, before he used a rifle to kill 17 people, including 18-year-old senior Meadow Pollack. The school district fired Medina, but he is still working with children.
When Meadow's father, Andrew Pollack, found out Medina was coaching a baseball team, he became enraged and showed up Wednesday at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, according to a petition for a protective order Medina filed in Broward County court.
"Do you know who I am? I am not through with you yet," witnesses said Pollack shouted to Medina, according to court records.
Pollack allegedly turned to the parents and said, "How can you have this piece of [expletive] out here?"
Court records show Medina and his attorney are now using his position as a witness in Cruz's case to claim Pollack's alleged harassment Wednesday is a felony.
Pollack said Thursday he didn't threaten Medina since he was about 20 feet away from him.
"I wasn't threatening at all," Pollack told Local 10 News. "I was as calm as can be."
Pollack said he "couldn't believe that the community and the parents would allow this person to be on the field with their kids."
In a statement released by his attorney Thursday night, Medina used the words "frightening," "menacing," "petrified," and "fearful" to describe how Pollack made him feel. He also claimed he is not sleeping at his home and wants a protection order.
"In as much as I am aware of all the grieving and emotions that are currently exhibited in the Parkland and Coral Springs communities, I myself feel the same emotions," Medina said in a statement released by Fort Lauderdale-based attorney David S. Henry.
Meadow's parents, Pollack and Shara Kaplan, are suing Medina for negligence in Broward County court. They are also suing Scot Peterson, the former Broward Sheriff's Office deputy assigned to the school who was armed but decided not to confront Cruz during the shooting. Peterson resigned.