Chico man gets 180 days in jail for deadly crash
Paradise woman died in March 2020 wreck
OROVILLE » A 21-year- old man was sentenced in the Butte County Superior Court on Tuesday for causing a March 2020 traffic collision on Highway 99 that killed Victoria Nystrom, 36, of Paradise.
Jackson Bassow, 21, of Chico, was sentenced by Judge Corie Caraway to 180 days jail time as part of a one-year term of formal probation, according to Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. Bassow previously entered a no contest plea for one count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.
Drugs appeared to be a factor in the crash, as a urine test revealed Bassow had traces of four different drugs — MDMA, cocaine, cannabinoids and benzodiazepine — in his system. Ramsey said in a press release that evidence was insufficient in proving Bassow was impaired, however, he asserted “it was clear the combination of a lack of sleep and the drugs was sufficient to bring a criminal vehicular manslaughter charge.”
The terms of Bassow’s probation include restitution to the family of the victim and conditions to address substance abuse issues. Caraway also ordered Bassow to complete 200 hours of community service.
Ac c or d - ing to the DA’s office, nine of Nystrom’s family members spoke at the sentencing hearing Tuesday. Nystrom was a mother of three. Nystrom’s mother, Rose Nystrom, has been outspoken on social media in seeking justice for her daughter, whom she said was “an amazing daughter, sister and spouse.”
“The loss to our family is beyond measure,” Rose Nystrom wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 5. “Her children who are 16, 11 and 7 now live each day without the love and comfort that only a mom can give. Not only is her family devastated and changed for life, but her friends are also grieving at the loss of such an amazing human being in their lives.
“I want justice for our daughter, but the Justice system and those involved have failed her.”
The California Highway Patrol responded to the crash on March 14, 2020, which occurred on Highway 99 just south of Hamilton Nord Cana Highway. According to Ramsey, CHP officers arrived to find emergency medical personnel treating Bassow for his injuries on a gurney, and located Nystrom in the driver’s seat of her vehicle with fatal injuries.
It was revealed later that Bassow and his wife, who was a passenger in the vehicle, stayed up late the night before the crash and were traveling to Redding and back on only a few hours of sleep. The lack of sleep, combined with recent drug use, caused Bassow to take his attention from the roadway and drift into oncoming traffic, according to the DA’s office.
Bassow told officers his wife was asleep in the passenger’s seat of the car, and he turned his attention to her when she spoke while in her sleep. When Bassow noticed he had drifted into the oncoming lane of traffic, he swerved back into his own lane, before he overcorrected and drove back into the oncoming lane, which resulted in the car colliding head on with the car Nystrom was driving, killing her.
During an interview with a probation officer, Bassow acknowledged an addiction to several recreational controlled substances and claimed responsibility for the inattention that caused the collision resulting in Nystrom’s death. Bassow and his wife sustained severe injuries in the crash.
Ramsey noted that Bassow’s probation time of one year came as a result of a new law the state legislature passed this year that shortens the length of probation for most cases from three years to one year. If Bassow violates his probation he will face up to one year in the Butte County Jail.