Hunter Pollack, brother of slain Parkland, Fla. student Meadow Pollack, snapped this photo of State Sen. Perry Thurston apparently asleep during yesterday’s debate on the future of former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel:

This is a picture of @SenatorThurston I took during the critical debate in the senate on the fate of former Sheriff Israel. It shows that the Senator doesn’t care about and the future of public safety in Broward County or the interests of his constituents. pic.twitter.com/TcZQy5BUqP — Hunter Pollack (@PollackHunter) October 24, 2019

Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter Jaime in the attack, called the display “shameful”:

What is happening in Tallahassee now is a big deal. @PerryThurstonJr, at a minimum you could stay awake for these proceedings. Shameful!!! pic.twitter.com/Q2bWiqQdSA — Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) October 23, 2019

Sen. Thurston later claimed he was just thinking about his speech:

.@SenatorThurston says he wasn’t sleeping during Senate discussion of Scott Israel. “I was not. I was thinking about my speech.” — Anthony Man (@browardpolitics) October 23, 2019

But that appears to be a lie as well as this photo was taken about an hour after he gave the speech that he said he was thinking about:

Update: @SenatorThurston claims that this photo shows him thinking about his speech (which took place from 3:20pm to 3:40pm). Only problem-> Photo was taken at 4:47pm! Putting the community & our kids at risk, sleeping on the job AND lying. All in a days work for Sen Thurston! https://t.co/FT4BBxJVgr — Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) October 24, 2019

Sen. Thurston was in favor of reinstating Scott Israel:

.⁦⁦⁦@SenatorThurston⁩, who supports reinstating Scott Israel as Broward sheriff, tells ⁦⁦@FLSenateDems⁩ that he understands feelings of #Parkland families who want Israel permanently removed. “If I was a parent I would want vengeance too.” pic.twitter.com/SNuNrnEVQX — Anthony Man (@browardpolitics) October 23, 2019

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