School district sued over detainment of reporter

KVBC Channel 3 and reporter Brenda Stanton are suing the Clark County School District and three school police officers over Stanton's detainment in February.

Stanton was doing a story about teen pregnancy but had been denied permission by seven high schools to interview students.

In response, the lawsuits say, she tried to conduct the interviews on a public sidewalk in front of Valley High School at Eastern Avenue and Valley View Drive.

She was ordered off the sidewalk under threat of arrest, and she complied by stepping into the street, according to the legal actions.

When she returned to the sidewalk from the street to avoid being struck by oncoming traffic, she was handcuffed by officers Howard Baker and M. Knight and her cameraman was ordered into the Channel 3 vehicle and told to leave the area, the suits say.

After Sgt. Maria Jordan arrived, Stanton was released and no charges were filed against her.

The suits allege the officers "unlawfully obstructed Stanton's right as a duly authorized member of the institutional press to engage in freedom of the press."

KVBC's suit seeks a declaration the practices of the school police and the school district policies "are repugnant to the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments" and an injunction prohibiting their enforcement.

School district spokesman Ray Willis said the district does not prohibit public access on sidewalks. He blamed the incident on a verbal conflict between the officers and the reporter.

"It's unfortunate they went to that extreme to file a lawsuit," Willis said.

But KVBC managing editor Dan Burns said he was told the day of the incident by Willis that the officers were enforcing school policy.

"If we just let this pass by, it would happen again and again," Burns said. "We could not let this go by without the policy being changed."

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