Judge orders release of bodycam footage in Durango High altercation

A Las Vegas judge has ordered the Clark County School District to release body-worn camera footage of a police altercation involving students near Durango High School in February.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which is representing students involved in the confrontation, has sued the school district for release of the records. The district has argued that the records were confidential and considered juvenile justice information because one student was cited by an officer, but the judge disagreed with the argument in an order released Monday.

District Judge Danielle Chio wrote that the body-worn camera footage should be released because prosecutors did not pursue a case against the juvenile who was cited, and because the juveniles’ parents signed a release waiver that was filed with the court.

She ordered the footage to be released by Jan. 17, with redactions to protect the juveniles’ identities, according to the court order.

“The court didn’t allow the district to weaponize a privilege that is meant to protect students,” said ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Christopher Peterson.

The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ACLU sued the school district after video posted to social media in February appeared to show district police officer Lt. Jason Elfberg pushing a Black student onto the ground and putting a knee onto the student’s back. The student had been recording the arrest of other juveniles, the ACLU has said, and the district has stated the confrontation stemmed from an investigation into a report of a firearm near the school.

Though the cellphone footage has already been posted online, Peterson said the body-worn camera footage should show that the student had a First Amendment right to film the officer.

“It eliminates any excuses that might be out there, the ‘maybes’ and ‘what ifs’ that always circle in the public, that seem to always push the burden, no matter what the video shows, onto the victims of police violence,” he said.

The judge also ruled that an internal affairs report detailing the investigation into Elfberg, which did not result in discipline, is confidential and does not have to be released by the school district.

Peterson said the internal affairs document would have been helpful to show if the district acted appropriately after the incident occurred. But he stressed that the release of the body-worn camera footage will offer transparency to the public.

“It’s something that people can watch,” he said. “They don’t have to accept the police officer’s word of what happened, or the district’s word of what happened. They can see it with their own two eyes.”

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday as a status check on a records request the ACLU made for emails between district employees about the altercation. An attorney for the school district has indicated that the ACLU’s request had yielded 15,000 messages.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.