Reporter handcuffed for ‘loitering’, officer says

Thursday, Feb. 12, 1998 | 3:15 a.m.

Brenda Stanton, a reporter for KVBC Channel 3, was standing on a perimeter sidewalk of Valley High School Wednesday afternoon interviewing students about teen pregnancy.

A school police officer, whose name was not released, told Ms. Stanton she would be arrested for loitering if she did not leave the sidewalk.

Ms. Stanton stepped onto the street, then back onto the sidewalk as the photographer continued shooting video from the street.

The officer then told Ms. Stanton she was under arrest and handcuffed her. He held her in custody in the street and instructed the photographer to get back in his vehicle or he would be arrested.

Ms. Stanton was later released and was never arrested.

Dan Burns, managing editor and acting news director of Channel 3, said Thursday the station contends the perimeter sidewalk of a public school is a public place.

Burns said Ms. Stanton and the officer exchanged words when a crowd of students who had gathered around the reporter began spilling into a school driveway.

"We didn't walk into history class. We were standing on a sidewalk," he said

Ray Willis, spokesman for the Clark County School District, agrees that sidewalks are public property.

"I think it's just deplorable that it happened."

Willis said Ms. Stanton never asked the school for permission to interview students. The station said she didn't have to because she was standing on public property.

"We aren't fully clear on specifically what happened leading up the actual handcuffing," Willis said.

Channel 3's photographer caught the incident on tape, and the station planned to air it Thursday night.

School police are investigating.