Angel Salcdo, et al. v. City of Las Vegas, et al.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, personal injury lawyer represented the Plaintiffs who sued on civil rights violation theories.

During an hours-long standoff with law enforcement in Las Vegas, New
Mexico, Alejandro Alirez shot his girlfriend, Cristal Cervantes, and her grandfather,
Victor Cervantes, inside their home. Alirez livestreamed the encounter on Facebook
for nearly 51 minutes. Cristal was alive for much or all of the livestream. When
Alirez finally surrendered, hours after the initial shots, she was beyond help. Neither
Cristal nor Victor survived.
Angel Salcido, Cristal’s personal representative, and Wanda Martinez,
Cristal’s mother, (together, plaintiffs) sued the responding law-enforcement agencies
and officials1 for failing to intervene, raising claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and New
Mexico state law.

The district court granted defendants summary judgment across the board, concluding that qualified immunity barred plaintiffs’ § 1983 claim and that they couldn’t succeed on their state-law claim

On appeal, plaintiffs argue that defendants’ inaction during the standoff
(1) violated Cristal’s clearly established due-process rights, so defendants are not
entitled to qualified immunity under § 1983, and (2) breached New Mexico’s
statutory duty to investigate, so defendants are liable under multiple state-law
theories.

Affirmed