LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Newly-released CCSD police body camera video shows a school district police lieutenant taking a student to the ground and handcuffing two other students who were on a sidewalk.
The incident report says Lt. Jason Elfberg was parked near Durango High on February 9, 2023 when he noticed something.
“All three males had blue medical rubber gloves on, which appeared strange and drew my attention. My first thought was this was possibly to use a weapon during a fight and not leave fingerprints,” he wrote in the incident report.
A sergeant arrived on the scene and saw some juveniles “grouping up,” which the report says is common before a fight starts. The sergeant then said he thought he saw something in the pocket of a juvenile that “may have been a weapon.”
That is when the police officers approached a juvenile in their cars, near the south fence of the Durango High football field. The newly released body camera video then shows the lieutenant getting out of his car to stop the juvenile.
“As I attempted to stop him and walk him to the hood of the car, he pulled his hands away,” read the report.
A short time later, as the officer was talking with that juvenile, he was telling other juveniles to keep walking on the sidewalk. He then approached another juvenile who was walking away from the lieutenant on the sidewalk.
The officer quickly placed that student in handcuffs as the student said he wasn’t doing anything wrong. The report says the lieutenant then confronted a third student who he told to keep walking.
“Due to him already attempting to stop me from detaining (juvenile name redacted), I told him if he wanted to be next in handcuffs. I then told him again to start walking, at which point he said ‘no.’ I then grabbed (redacted name), who immediately pulled away and started pulling his hands from my grasp, and yelling at me not to touch him,” read the report.
The officer then took the juvenile to the ground. The boy was later handcuffed. The report goes on to say that an unidentified juvenile pushed the lieutenant on his right shoulder and stood directly in front of him as he took the other juvenile to the ground.
Body camera video and student cell phone video don’t show the push, but reveal one person just inches away from the lieutenant, along with two other witnesses standing very close by as well. The officer ended up pushing one person and telling them to get back.
Lt. Elfberg was not disciplined by the school district for his actions and the CCSD police union supported his efforts that day.
The ACLU believes Lt. Elfberg violated the rights of students and says students on the scene didn’t have to walk away while on the sidewalk, even though the Lt. says students were blocking the sidewalk.
“The fact that the students here bravely stood their ground on a public sidewalk, which they are allowed to stand on, in the face of threats of retaliation that they would be taken into custody, that they would be arrested, that repeatedly told to walk on when they’re not required to do so, is admirable,” said ACLU of Nevada Attorney Christopher Peterson.
FOX5 requested an interview with Lt. Elfberg and the CCSD Police Chief on Friday, but they did not respond.
On Friday, CCSD issued a statement on the incident.
“As communicated to the ACLU in March 2023, we offered to release redacted copies of the video to them, provided they obtained permission from their clients. However, they refused and instead filed a lawsuit demanding the video footage.
Under Nevada law, we are required to protect the identity and safety of minors and the rights of police officers. Those laws were upheld, and the release of the court-ordered video shows that the rights of citizens were honored and laws were followed despite the challenges of that day’s events near Durango High School,” read the statement.
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