A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a woman who was shot and killed by a “high ranking police officer” before he shot and killed himself. According to the family of the woman, Nikki Bascom, the “tragic situation could have been avoided by law enforcement.” The lawsuit itself was filed against the “Silver City Police Department for negligence, claiming they ignored her calls for help.” Additionally, the lawsuit claims the “police and sheriff’s departments violated her civil rights by failing to help her.”
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a woman who was shot and killed by a “high ranking police officer” before he shot and killed himself. According to the family of the woman, Nikki Bascom, the “tragic situation could have been avoided by law enforcement.” The lawsuit itself was filed against the “Silver City Police Department for negligence, claiming they ignored her calls for help.” Additionally, the lawsuit claims the “police and sheriff’s departments violated her civil rights by failing to help her.”
But what happened exactly to lead to such a tragic event? Well, last Spring, Bascom was “gunned down by Mark Contreras,” after he blocked her car “in his police unit and took her phone from her,” according to the lawsuit.
Contreras so happened to be her “ex-boyfriend and a Captain at the Silver City Police Department.” Prior to the fatal shooting, Bascom was well aware of Contreras’ violent tendencies and was even a domestic abuse victim. On one occasion Contreras even followed her to “followed her to the domestic violence shelter where she was going to seek a temporary restraining order” and threatened to kill himself on occasion.
According to the family, Bascom wasn’t the only one aware of Contreras’ violence. In fact, many people, including deputies and other members of the police department, were aware of his violent tendencies and did nothing. Why? Well, according to Bascom’s family, “both police and Grant County deputies refused to investigate Captain Contreras because it was embarrassing to have an officer behaving like this.”
When commenting on the lawsuit and the actions of the police department, Laura Schauer-Ives said: “They swept that information under the rug and didn’t investigate it, didn’t impact his employment at all.” Schauer-Ives is an attorney for Bascom’s family and added:
“Nikki Bascom was a bright, beautiful light, who is now gone. She was just 32 years old and had a long life ahead of her…They should’ve arrested him for the many many crimes he committed on the day he killed her. They should’ve arrested him for the crimes he committed before he killed her…Nikki Bascom is dead and her children don’t have her anymore as a result.”
Now typically when allegations of domestic abuse are brought forward, one would assume or think that, at the very least, an investigation would be in order. Not in Bascom’s case. Apparently, the Silver City Police Department was content with sweeping the allegations under the rug. Instead of being investigated and despite the allegations of domestic abuse against him, the department saw fit to promote Contreras “to Captain right before the murder-suicide.” No wonder the family is so upset and fighting to hold the police and sheriff’s department accountable for their inaction.
At the moment the Silver City Police Department and the Grant County Sheriff’s Department have yet to respond to requests for comment.
Sources:
Lawsuit blaming law enforcement for woman’s death in murder-suicide by cop goes federal
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