The Clark County School District offices are shown in Las Vegas in May 2009.
Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023 | 4:08 p.m.
The ACLU of Nevada can amend its request to compel the Clark County School District to turn over the greater investigative file, not just the resulting final report, on the school police officer who slammed a Black teen to the ground and knelt on his back last winter, a Clark County District Court judge ruled today.
Judge Danielle “Pieper” Chio granted the amendment during a hearing in the ACLU’s continuing legal battle for records related to the February incident outside Durango High School. The ACLU, which is representing two of the boys involved, sued CCSD in April for CCSD Police body-worn camera video and other records that it says the school district is resistant to releasing, claiming that withholding the records violated the state public records law.
The hearing came a day after Chio ordered CCSD to turn over footage from the incident, including body-cam video from the officer depicted in a viral video tackling and kneeling on the one boy, with minors’ faces blurred. The district must also hand over the redacted incident report, the citation issued to one of the boys and dispatch notes.
In her Monday order, Chio did not decide on the ACLU’s request for email communications within the district on the incident, as separate arguments on that matter are pending.
Additionally, she decided the internal affairs investigation into CCSDPD Lt. Jason Elfberg, who tackled the teen, will remain confidential. That is because Elfberg did not receive any punitive discipline from CCSD or CCSDPD for the incident, and as such, under state law, he has not seen the report himself.
Today, though, Chio said her order was narrowly tailored to the report, opening the possibility of requesting the investigative components like interview transcripts that led to the report.
District lawyers argued that the after-school event outside Durango on Feb. 9 — which CCSD said followed firearms investigations in the area that day and the previous day – is distinct from the internal affairs investigation into Elfberg. Chio noted today that the internal investigation depended on how police handled the students.
ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah told reporters after the hearing that “the public knows we are asking for all information related to the Feb. 9 incident near Durango. And instead of just sharing that information, they (CCSD) have tried to muddy the record over and repeatedly. It does beg questions about the transparency with which they're trying to operate. It begs questions about oversight of the district.”
“Why are they hiding the ball? Why are they hiding these records?... If this officer wasn't engaged in misconduct, turn over the records,” he added.
Haseebullah said he imagines that CCSD will appeal Chio’s order to release the bodycam footage and other records within 30 days.
In a statement today, CCSD said it “acted in good faith. CCSD has a duty under the law to protect confidential and privileged information, and no amount of hyperbole will deter us from that responsibility.”
The case is set for its next hearing in March.
