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Crime scene tension and alleged poor hiring leads to lawsuit after deputy kills wife
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Jim Maxwell, the distraught father-in-law of San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy Lowell “Sam” Bruce, wanted to tell his wife, Kay Maxwell, that their daughter was dead but other Sheriff’s deputies would not let him. Jim Maxwell tried to get to his wife anyway. Deputies, claiming they wanted to keep witnesses separated, used pepper spray, batons, and handcuffs to prevent him from doing so.
The Maxwell’s daughter, Kristin Marie Maxwell-Bruce, was married to Deputy Lowell Bruce. They had been arguing back on December 14, 2006 and heated words were exchanged. It elevated above heated words when Deputy Lowell Bruce, in front of their 4-year-old son, shot Kristin in the face. The bullet destroyed the left side of her jaw and exited her neck but she wasn’t dead just yet.
The Maxwells and the Bruces lived in the same house but Jim and Kay Maxwell did not see or hear the gunfire, they had been asleep elsewhere in the large home. Immediately after the shooting, Jim Maxwell heard Lowell Bruce yell that he had just shot Kristin. A neighbor responded who was also a nurse. She did what she could until paramedics arrived. 911 calls were made and Sheriff’s Deputy Jeffery Jackson was the first to arrive.
Deputy Jackson was aware that his fellow Deputy Sheriff, Lowell Bruce, was the shooter. Jackson did not handcuff Bruce, he did however, place Bruce in the back of the patrol car and give Bruce a cell phone to make calls.
That is interesting in light of the fact that the Sheriff Department spokesperson says that it was procedure which dictated Jim Maxwell be prevented from seeking solace with his wife. Generally it is procedure to cuff a shooting suspect and not give him a cell phone to use in the back of a police car.
Kristin Maxwell-Bruce died within an hour of being shot. She never made it to the hospital and according to the Maxwells, law enforcement personnel hindered medical attention for Kristin.
At the scene amidst all the chaos, Jim Maxwell kept asking about the status of his daughter. He was eventually told she had died and that is when he wanted to go tell his wife.
The Maxwells are angry. Their daughter is dead and they believe that law enforcement personnel bear some responsibility.
Sheriff Department personnel acknowledge there was tension on the scene between deputies and that one deputy said another “f**ked” it up by not letting the ambulance leave the house in time. Aside from that they claim proper procedure was followed.
The Maxwells also believe the Sheriff’s Department erred by hiring Lowell Bruce in the first place. Bruce was denied employment from multiple law enforcement agencies before being hired as a deputy sheriff and also twice failed psychological testing.
Bruce accepted a voluntary manslaughter plea bargain and was sentenced to fifteen years. What remains to be resolved is the pending civil litigation expected to go to trial within the next five months.
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