SAN DIEGOSAN DIEGO — The mother of a mentally ill man who was fatally shot after he slipped out of custody and ran from sheriff’s deputies outside the downtown San Diego jail filed a federal lawsuit Monday, alleging excessive force and wrongful death.
Nicholas Bils, 36, was shot after he leapt from a park ranger’s car and sprinted up a sidewalk in the early evening of May 1.
His mother, Kathleen Bils, is suing several people and entities, including the County of San Diego, Sheriff Bill Gore and Aaron Russell, the deputy accused of firing the fatal shot.
Russell, 24, has been charged in San Diego Superior Court with second-degree murder. His is the first case brought since the state law changed in January to raise the standard for when officers can use deadly force. It is permissible only when “necessary,” when a life is in imminent danger and nonlethal methods are not available, the law states. Previously, deadly force had been allowable when “reasonable.”
The District Attorney’s Office pointed to that new tougher standard when announcing its decision to criminally charge Russell.
Kathleen Bils’ suit accuses Russell of using excessive force, and accuses both him and the county, which oversees the Sheriff’s Department, of wrongful death.
It also accuses Gore and others of failing to properly train custodial deputies about the appropriate use of force, and alleges a “systemic failure” in the county to investigate deaths involving use of force by deputies.
The lawsuit comes two months after Henry Bils, father of Nicholas and ex-husband of Kathleen, filed a federal suit alleging civil rights violations in the shooting of his son and wrongful death.
Asked for comment on the new suit Monday, an attorney representing Russell in both federal civil cases said the case “is tragic for everyone involved.”
He also noted the federal civil lawsuits will take backseat to the criminal case, staying on hold as the murder case proceeds through state court.
Russell is free on bail as the case works its way through criminal court. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 25.
The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the pending civil litigation.
About 5:50 p.m on May 1, Russell, then a detentions deputy at San Diego Central Jail, was heading to work when he and a colleague saw Nicholas Bils escape from the car. They chased him up Front Street.
Russell fired five shots as the unarmed man ran away, Deputy District Attorney Stephen Marquardt said at Russell’s arraignment in July. Bils was struck at least four times, including a bullet that entered the left side of his back and struck a lung and his heart, the prosecutor said.
The suit also targets the state parks department and the two rangers who arrested Bils. It alleges, among other things, that they failed to secure Bils in his handcuffs or the back of the car. It also alleges the park rangers should have taken him to a mental health hospital instead of to jail.
Kathleen Bils’ lawsuit states that her son had schizophrenia and was terrified of police.
