The Feb. 9 encounter outside Durango High School in suburban Las Vegas unfolded while officers were investigating a report of a firearm near the campus.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A school police officer in Las Vegas was captured on cellphone video last week slamming a high school student to the ground and pinning him underneath his knee, prompting an investigation and renewed calls from Nevada activists who want to see police removed from schools and more resources for students.
The Clark County School District Police Department said the Feb. 9 encounter outside Durango High School in suburban Las Vegas unfolded while officers were investigating a report of a firearm near the campus, but school officials have not released further information, including whether a weapon was found.
The Clark County School District is the fifth largest in the U.S. with about 300,000 students. The police department has nearly 200 sworn officers who have the authority to make arrests and issue traffic citations.
District Police Chief Mike Blackeye said in a statement Wednesday that the officer, who has not been identified, was reassigned to other duties pending the outcome of the investigation into his actions. The department has not released body camera or dashboard camera videos of the incident.
Superintendent Jesus Jara said in a statement Monday that he had called for a complete review of the police department’s use of force policy.
“Because of our actions, the children of our community and their families must believe that they will be respected, treated with dignity, and safe while at our schools or interacting with our employees,” Jara said.
Neither the school district nor its police department immediately responded to requests for additional information from The Associated Press.
The video circulating on social media begins with several district police officers detaining two students as another student walks by recording with his cellphone. One of the officers yells to the student, “You want next, dude?”
The student backs away, lowering his phone, before the officer shoves him to the ground next to a patrol vehicle, its lights flashing red and blue. Students in the background can be heard yelling to the officer, “You can’t have him on the ground like that!”
The officer kneels on the student’s back as he lies face-down on the pavement, keeping his knee there until the video ends about 30 seconds later. At one point, the student can be heard asking his friends to call his mother.
The roughly minute-long video of the encounter has been viewed thousands of times on Twitter, with one of several of the posts circulating the video viewed about 50,000 times.
“The video circulating on the internet made my stomach turn,” said Quentin Savwoir, president of the local NAACP chapter. “Our scholars deserve to be safe and free from the threat of violence from those entrusted to protect them.”
Source: Nevada officer slams student recording police, kneels on him
