Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, speaks during a news conference at the ACLU of Nevada offices Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. The news conference addressed questions relating to the release of CCSD Police body-worn camera footage depicting a CCSD police officer tackling and kneeling on a Black teen outside a Las Vegas high school last year.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024 | 2 a.m.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is appealing to the state Supreme Court to get the components of the internal investigative file on the school police officer who threw a Black student to the ground and knelt on his back last year.
And in a related move, the Clark County School District has filed a cross-appeal asking the state high court if a Clark County District judge erred by “not following the plain language” of state law that shields records related to juvenile justice from release — even though CCSD has already complied with the district court’s orders to hand over all other requested documents in the ongoing public records case.
A mediation session for the case will be scheduled, according to Supreme Court documents.
The ACLU’s appeal, which was filed in May, focuses on a District Court order entered April 10 that denied the organization’s bid to get records that comprised the internal affairs investigative file into Lt. Jason Elfberg. Elfberg is the CCSD Police officer depicted in viral bystander video slamming a Black teenager to the ground, kneeling on his back and handcuffing him after he held out his cellphone to record a tense after-school interaction with other, predominantly Black students outside Durango High School in February 2023.
The ACLU, which is representing two of the students from the incident, first asked CCSD for records connected to the incident within two weeks of the event. The school district said the records could not be released because they were part of pending juvenile justice and employment matters. The ACLU sued in April 2023, claiming that withholding the records violated the Nevada Public Records Act.
In January, under a District Court order, the school district released several records, including the incident report and body-worn camera footage from Elfberg and other officers on the scene. In March, the District Court ordered CCSD to pay the ACLU about $36,000 in lawyers’ costs and fees. In May, CCSD released nearly 2,000 pages of emails related to the incident.
The ACLU was not, however, successful in convincing District Judge Danielle Pieper to order the release of either the final internal investigative report into Elfberg’s actions or the components of the file, like transcripts of witness interviews. Pieper concluded that the full file should remain protected to stay consistent with her prior decision to keep the final report confidential. The earlier decision was made because Elfberg did not receive any punitive discipline from CCSD or CCSDPD for the incident. Under state law, he has not seen the report himself.
Police have said the stop was connected to follow-up on a weapons investigation near the southwest Las Vegas school the previous day. However, the bodycam video shows that Elfberg did not ask any of the three teens he detained that day about a gun. Footage also shows the teens at the scene being compliant and attempting to defuse the situation.
The school district declined to respond to a request for clarification on why it is cross-appealing, citing a practice of not commenting on pending litigation.
CCSD’s outside attorneys on the case had billed the school district nearly $68,000 through April, according to invoices the Sun received through a public records request.
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