Four school district officers investigated

Four Clark County School District police officers are being investigated by district police in the wake of a 60-year-old woman's allegations she was grabbed by officers during an Oct. 25 School Board meeting.

Capt. James Ketsaa said the investigation will look into whether the officers engaged in misconduct and excessive force. Ketsaa said the officers have not been punished or placed on leave. He would not disclose their names, saying it's a personnel matter.

Ketsaa said district police received a complaint from Rose Moore over the weekend, which sparked the investigation.

Moore told the Review-Journal on Wednesday two officers grabbed her arms and wrists during last week's meeting. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

"A thorough investigation will be conducted," Ketsaa said. "I'm sure it's going to take weeks."

Last week's meeting, which lasted longer than four hours, was caught on camera.

During a 15-minute span at the end of the meeting, Moore and School Board President Ruth Johnson sparred verbally over whether Moore would be allowed to speak during the public input portion of the meeting. That set off a series of events which included Moore's claim that two officers assaulted her.

In the video, Moore could be heard shouting at police officers not to hurt her, but she was off camera at the time. The cameras did catch Moore slumping over a chair, grabbing her chest and gasping for air.

The stress of the situation caused Moore to have a heart attack, according to her and her husband. The Review-Journal was unable to confirm whether Moore did in fact have a heart attack.

School Board member Shirley Barber corroborated Moore's account that she left by ambulance at the end of the meeting.

Before being transported from the meeting by ambulance attendance, Moore was allowed to speak to the School Board for two minutes, expressing her concern about how a friend's autistic child was being schooled and noting that she was going to file a complaint against the School Board with the attorney general's office over the matter.

Trustees Mary Beth Scow and Terri Janison said Thursday an investigation by district police is necessary because of the seriousness of allegations that have been made and to determine all the facts.

Moore has threatened to sue the School Board

"If a lawsuit is filed, there should be an investigation," Scow said, adding that the district needs to cover all of the bases to protect itself.

Neither Scow, Janison nor Ketsaa said they knew who ordered Moore to be escorted from the meeting.

On the video, police could be heard telling Moore that she had been asked to leave.

Johnson could not be reached for comment Thursday. She, Barber and Sheila Moulton, also a member of the School Board, were on board business in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday at a conference hosted by the Council of the Great City Schools.

Ketsaa and Phil Gervasi, president of the district's police union, said officers can act on their own if they feel that someone poses a danger to themselves and others at the meeting.

The officers also can remove an individual from a meeting if told to do so by a board member.

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, has been critical of the School Board, saying they arbitrarily choose who can speak at board meetings, depending on whether they bring a positive or negative message.

Peck is also concerned about the district police's ability to conduct an unbiased investigation into the actions of their own officers.

"At the very least, it creates an appearance of a lack of real objectivity," Peck said. "And at worse, it creates a lack of real objectivity."