The ACLU of Nevada and the NAACP Las Vegas submitted a public records request today to the office of Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson. The civil rights groups are seeking answers to lingering questions about the case against former Las Vegas police officer Kenneth Lopera in connection with the in-custody death of Tashii Farmer Brown in May of 2017.
Although the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, there has been no accountability. A “fact-finding review” held in the name of “transparency” last week only left the community desperate for answers.
ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Tod Story said:
“The tragedy of Tashii Brown’s death is magnified exponentially by the failure of the justice system in this case. Monday’s farce of a hearing revealed no new information and only focused on the police while so many questions about the decisions and actions of the District Attorney’s Office remain. Because the course pursued in this case raises many questions, we will continue to seek transparency and provide answers for the Farmer family and the public.”
NAACP Las Vegas President Roxann McCoy said:
"The entire Fact Finding process held this week was an insult to the intelligence of everyone who attended, and the process by which it was conducted was completely flawed. The family of Tashii Farmer Brown and the entire the Las Vegas Community was left with more questions than answers. The NAACP Las Vegas and the ACLU of Nevada will not stop until it is clear that police officers cannot choke and kill innocent members of our community without facing justice.”
Information sought in the ACLUNV/NAACP public records request includes:
- Policies, procedures, and guidelines for taking cases to a grand jury rather than to a preliminary hearing;
- Policies, procedures, and guidelines on how to handle police use of force cases;
- Information related to the practice of bringing in experts, like the Force Science Institute, to contradict findings by the Clark County Coroner’s Office; and
- Any communications about this case between the District Attorney’s Office and the Las Vegas police union, Metro, and the campaign to re-elect Steve Wolfson.
