CCSD officer seen tackling Black teen in video
The ACLU of Nevada in a court filing Tuesday said the public deserves to a see a report from an internal investigation into a Clark County School District Police officer who was seen on video tackling a Black teen to the ground and kneeling on his back.
The school district has not handed over the report from its investigation clearing Lt. Jason Elfberg of any wrongdoing in the February incident outside Durango High School.
CCSD also hasn’t delivered other relevant records requested by the ACLU, who is representing the boys and another teen seen in the video. It says the public interest in police accountability outweighs the district’s arguments that the personnel and juvenile justice-related records are confidential.
CCSD and the ACLU since April have been locked in battle over records from the incident, including the body-worn camera footage, the police report, internal emails and “any materials describing the disciplining, sanctioning, or reprimanding of CCSD employees and students related to the incident.
The ACLU sued to get the records after CCSD denied the civil rights organization’s requests.
“On a more basic level, the District pushes this court to waste time and resources to no substantive benefit,” the ACLU said in its filing. “The District made clear at this point that it intends to withhold all documents related to the Feb. 9 incident in their entirety. There is no practical nor legal reason barring this Court from ordering the District to disclose the documents from that investigation.”
CCSD has said the camera footage and all written records, including the incident report, are confidential because they involve minors in the juvenile justice system. The ACLU said the one boy was cited, not arrested, for a misdemeanor and was referred to a diversion program, meaning he is not under the jurisdiction of the local juvenile court system.
Clark County District Judge Danielle “Pieper” Chio handed down an order in July directing the district to hand over Elfberg’s internal investigation report — or at least argue why it shouldn’t have to. In a signed declaration attached to the filing, Elfberg said generally that the report’s release could negatively impact him and his reputation.
The ACLU said that the district did not say if Elfberg has already been harassed, or if he were to be, by whom.
Also, “considering the district’s multiple assertions that the report actually clears Elfberg of any wrongdoing, releasing the report should reduce any embarrassment, harassment, or stigma Elfberg is experiencing, assuming that the district conducted a thorough and adequate investigation.”
Police have said they were following up on firearms investigations at the time of the interaction; they have not said that officers recovered any.
District lawyers have, on Chio’s orders, privately shown Chio the six body-worn camera videos, the misdemeanor citation issued to the boy shown being tackled, the police report, and dispatch notes.
As to public interest, the ACLU wrote in its filing: “(T)he records from an investigation into police misconduct are necessary to determine whether the investigation has been handled properly and the public does not have to accept the district’s claims that the district handled the investigation appropriately, particularly when the egregious conduct depicted on the widely-circulated cellphone footage has resulted in no disciplinary consequences whatsoever.”
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