Body camera footage was finally released nearly a year after a Las Vegas school officer kneeled on a Black teenager, which kindled widespread outrage in the community and set off yet more public outcry on police brutality and excessive force.
According to The Associated Press, the incident occurred last February near Durango High School in Las Vegas. Yet, it took a lawsuit and a court order for the Clark County School District to release information and footage in their possession revealing what happened.
An incident report reveals that on Feb. 9, 2023, Lt. Jason Elfberg was investigating a report of a gun brought near the school the day prior following a threat that surfaced of a plan to “shoot up” a Las Vegas school. No weapon was found.
According to Elfberg’s account, the teen he forced to the ground refused to move away from him as he was handcuffing another student.
Cell phone video shows the teen recording Eflberg detaining a student, and when Elfberg spots him, he asks, “You want next, dude?” before telling him to “start walking.”
When the teen refuses, Elfberg walks toward him. The student backed away, lowered his phone, and told Elfberg not to touch him, but Elfberg grabbed him and forced him against a fence before twisting him and violently forcing him to the ground next to a police car.
In the background of the video, students were heard yelling at the Elfberg. One student even approached Elfberg in protest, but Elfberg pushed the student away and yelled, “Back the f*** off!”
In Elfberg’s account, he said when he pushed the teen against the fence, the teen “attempted again to remove himself from my grasp, so I then spun him around and took him down to the ground.”
Bystander video reportedly drew numerous views on social media and many comparisons between Elfberg’s actions and those of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who is serving time in prison for murdering George Floyd.
Right after the incident occurred, the Clark County School District Police Department released a statement saying they would “review all aspects of the interaction, including what transpired before, during, and after the recording.”
Despite calls to fire Elfberg, he was allowed to keep his job, according to his attorney. He was initially reassigned and kept off the field after the incident took place, but ultimately, he was cleared of any wrongdoing by the district and remains on the school police force.
Right after the incident, CCSD initially denied media requests for information and body camera footage, arguing that most of the records were confidential because of the age of the people involved. The ACLU of Nevada filed a lawsuit in April of that year, arguing the district was “willfully” failing to comply with state records law.
Following the release of the footage, the ACLU of Nevada released a statement calling the district’s fight not to release records “shameful.” It reads, in part:
“It’s shameful that it took nearly a year for our clients and our community to see transparency from CCSD and its police force, and now it’s crystal clear from the footage that the narrative that the school district has been peddling, that its officers stopped those teenagers as part of some kind of firearm investigation, has always been an attempt to spin the events and avoid accountability for attacking school children. Bodycams were always meant to be a tool for the people to make sure our police are acting responsibly in our community, and moving forward, we will keep fighting for the other public records we’re seeking and considering all legal options for making sure there is justice for our clients.”
The statement also included a message from the teen’s mother who thanked the community for support and said, “As a mother, to get a call that my 14-year-old was hurt by a school police officer is heartbreaking. This has not been easy for us.”
The school district officials countered the ACLU’s statement with their own, saying that the organization rejected its offer to provide redacted video last March. They cited Nevada law and argued that district officials were protecting “the identity and safety of minors and the rights of police officers … despite the challenges of that day’s events near Durango High School.”
“This fight is far from over,” ACLU Executive Director Athar Haseebullah said. Haseebullah said the organization has spent $50,000 on attorneys to obtain the records on behalf of the two male students, whose names haven’t been made public. They were 14-year-old freshmen at the time of the confrontation, AP reports.
