LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada lays out the timeline of the agency's requests to receive body camera footage and incident reports from a violent encounter between police and students at Durango High School.
This happened on Feb. 9 during an interaction between white police officers and a group of mostly Black students.
According to the lawsuit, students filmed the encounter, which shows officers detaining a student and yelling "who wants next?" before grabbing another student and slamming them into the pavement.
In the court filing reviewed by Channel 13, ACLU lawyers laid out the following timeline of their requests for the as-yet unreleased video:
Feb. 17: The ACLU states it sent a letter to the Clark County School District, informing the district they were legally representing two students seen in the video.
Feb. 21: ACLU lawyers submitted a public records request to CCSD for a slew of recording, including:
- any video footage, including body-worn camera footage, of the incident,
- photos,
- BlueTeam data related to the incident, including data related to uses of force and complaints,
- any witness statements,
- any reports generated by CCSD employees,
- any communications by CCSD employees discussing the incident,
- and any materials describing the disciplining, sanctioning, or reprimanding of CCSD employees and students related to the incident.
March 14: The ACLU notes CCSD responded to those requests with a "flat out denial followed by a list of confidentiality exceptions and no further explanation." The agency adds it followed up the same day asking for clarification regarding the "inadequate" response.
March 21: The suit states CCSD emailed the ACLU claiming the information it requested related to a "pending juvenile justice matter and therefore could not be released." At the time, the district requested ACLU lawyers get consent from their clients for the release of the video to the general public. The ACLU told the district its representation of the students means confidentiality provisions don't apply.
In a separate email the same day, ACLU lawyers note CCSD maintained other documents could not be released due to an "ongoing, pending, and active employment investigation."
March 27: According to the lawsuit, CCSD sent another email with a similar response to the email from March 21.
That's when the ACLU decided to sue the district for those records. ACLU attorneys argue CCSD has failed to justify that the records are exempt from the Nevada Public Records Act, or to explain why the district's interest in not disclosing them outweighs the public's interest in accessing them.
"Even if some information in these records could be considered confidential, CCSD has made no attempt or offer to release redacted records as required by law - instead choosing to withhold the records in their entirety," one passage from the lawsuit reads.
The ACLU is suing for all the records that were denied in their Feb. 21 request, attorneys' fees and costs incurred in "responding to CCSD's denial."
CCSD has declined to comment on the ongoing dispute, citing pending litigation.
