Jara responds to violent video with order for CCSD Police to review policies

The Clark County School District will review its district police department's use of force policy and protocols, Superintendent Jesus Jara announced today.

The review comes in the wake of an incident recorded Thursday outside of Durango High School in southwest Las Vegas, where a CCSD Police officer is seen slamming a Black teenager to the ground and pinning him with his knees while pushing and shouting profanities at other Black youth.

A cell phone video of the encounter, just under a minute long, began circulating on social media shortly after the incident.

Jara said he has directed CCSDPD Chief Mike Blackeye “to conduct a complete review of the department’s use of force policy and protocols.”

“The relationship between our police officers and students must be one of mutual respect for the inherent dignity of every person and respect for the laws and policies that govern all of us,” Jara stated. “... Children of our community and their families must believe that they will be respected, treated with dignity, and safe while at our schools or interacting with our employees. Anything less is simply unacceptable.”

The video starts with a uniformed CCSDPD officer walking in the street to a police vehicle, detaining a boy with his hands behind his back. As he leaned the boy against the hood, another boy walked through the frame, holding out what appeared to be his own phone.

The officer then followed him, and they exchanged words, which were largely inaudible over the voices of several other people, although the second boy told the officer what sounded like “don’t touch me.” Within seconds, the officer wrapped his arms around the second boy from behind and took him to the ground, pinning him in the gutter with his knees on the boy’s back.

The officer also shoved a boy who approached and yelled “back the f— up” several times.

Off-camera, voices said “you can’t have him on the floor like that” and “call my momma.” All of the youth in the video appeared to be Black.

The department said Friday, as the views on the video increased, that the incident was initiated by a “report of a firearm near one of our schools.”

Neither the police department nor the district as a whole has said anything else about the circumstances, including the condition of the boy who was taken down, any charges, or whether a gun was recovered, although at the time the department said that it was investigating the matter and “this matter is being taken seriously, as are all interactions between our officers and members of the public who we serve.”

The Sun has inquired about the officer’s identity and assignment status, but neither the district nor department has responded.