Tonight, the Clark County School District (CCSD) Board of School Trustees approved a $1 million settlement with two teenage students represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLUNV). The incident in question occurred in February 2023 when CCSD police attacked the teens near Durango High School. Despite widespread sharing of cellphone video footage and requests from various parties, the school district delayed releasing numerous public records related to the event.
In December 2023, ACLUNV secured a court order compelling the district to release bodycam footage and email records. An appeal concerning other records from the district’s investigation is currently before the Nevada Supreme Court. The settlement reached on Thursday avoids further civil rights litigation on behalf of the students.
Chris Peterson, Legal Director at ACLU of Nevada, stated: “CCSD has spent the last two years working to avoid accountability for attacking our clients. The district hoped if it could bury the records and tie our innocent clients to a criminal narrative, that this incident would just go away. We’ve spent nearly two years seeking justice for our clients, their families, and the wider community, and we hope tonight’s settlement will help our clients and their families on their way to healing and peace. CCSD’s actions throughout this matter raise serious transparency and accountability questions.”
Athar Haseebullah, Executive Director at ACLU of Nevada, added: “From the inception of this matter, we have sounded the alarm about CCSD’s antics here. Two years and dozens of motions and hearings later, we’ve firmly established that CCSD’s original narrative in this matter was a bold-faced lie and that its attempt to hide records was done intentionally to hide the egregious misconduct of its own police department from the public. If CCSD continues to engage in misconduct, we will continue to sue them. We want to thank our friends at Claggett and Sykes for their support in helping secure this outcome.”
The families involved will not be available for media interviews; however, ACLUNV attorneys and leaders are open for interviews Friday morning through prior arrangement with their communications team.
