LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — 8 News Now obtained what appears to be audio of a teacher claiming he’d like to inflict physical harm on a student.
The teacher is also recorded saying he’d like to poison the student’s food.
The student, who is listed as John Doe on the federal lawsuit, is suing the Clark County School District and a special education teacher at Desert Oasis High School.
Lagomarsino Law represents the 14-year-old student and they identify the teacher in the recordings as Courtney Billups.
“I’d love to get him in the room. I know I’d love to get him in the room and just beat them. I’ll pick him up and just keep throwing him. I just don’t like him,” Billups stated in the recordings.
According to Lagomarsino Law, students recorded Billups describing what he wanted to do to John Doe minutes after the teenager left the classroom.
“Pick him up and just keep slamming him into the floor to break his neck. That’s the kid that I just don’t like him. I don’t like what he does. I don’t like his energy,” Billups was recorded saying.
Lagomarsino Law shared with 8 News Now several audio recordings captured in November 2022.
“We did not know the extent to which any of these threats may be acted on,” Taylor Jorgensen, the attorney representing the Desert Oasis teen said.
The Clark County School District declined to reveal Billups’ current employment status and comment on the matter, citing pending litigation.
Jorgensen said at the time of the recordings, John Doe, who is black, was kicked out of class after calling another student who took off his hood the “n” word.
“He being Mr. Billups told our client that he’s acting like a slave, or he’s being a slave, or something along those lines, which he later apparently told our client’s mom, that he said that because they were currently reading a book about a slave,” Jorgensen said.
The federal lawsuit, which was filed last week, alleges four claims against CCSD, including intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“It’s not something that you should have to worry about when you send your kid to school that, you know, his teacher, and a teacher in the special education department, is going to threaten your kid’s life,” Jorgensen said.
The 14-year-old boy is no longer a student at Desert Oasis and is continuing his studies at another school, according to Jorgensen.
