Bakersfield Beat Down

[XLFD]

On May 8, 2013, KGET reported out of Bakersfield California:

 

BAKERSFIELD, CA - A 33-year-old Bakersfield man died in Sheriff's Department custody Wednesday morning after an eight-minute fight with deputies in front of Kern Medical Center.

Deputies said the man, David Dal Silva, was immediately combative and fought to avoid arrest.

Deputies said they had to use batons and a police dog to subdue Silva during the fight.

"The suspect continued to resist the deputies and fight with the deputies," said Ray Pruitt, Kern County Sheriff's Department.

Pruitt said it took five deputies and two CHP officers to get Silva under control.

"There were no tasers deployed. It's my understanding there was no pepper spray," added Pruitt.

Silva died at Kern Medical Center shortly after he was taken into custody around 12:40 a.m.

But, that account is disputed by eyewitnesses who say they videotaped the confrontation and then fought all day to keep the Sheriff's Department from taking their tape.

Detectives knocked on the door of Melissa Quair around 2 a.m. seeking two cell phones.

She didn't want to go on camera but said the family was at KMC visiting a relative overnight. They didn't just witness what happened with Silva, they captured it on video.

"The first phone they seized they basically said 'you can do this the easy way or the hard way.' The hard way is they are going to keep him up all night until they could find a judge to sign a search warrant. It was a little heavy-handed on the part of the officers. These were just well-meaning citizens who videotaped an incident and had no grudge against anybody and doing what they could as citizens and yet they were treated as criminals," said attorney John Tello.

The family hired attorney John Tello to represent them. They say the video shows Silva did nothing to provoke deputies.

"Just listening to them. It's going to show numerous officers beating a man who was basically unconscious. And, they're claiming, I haven't verified this, the individual was handcuffed behind his back and those handcuffs were attached to the leggings on his feet," added Tello.

Deputies eventually obtained a search warrant and left with both phones.

"Anybody will tell you, you hogtie a person, it depresses the diaphragm and the person can't breathe and the person may die," said Tello.

 

 

On May 9, 2013, witnesses came forward, gruesome stories were heard On 23 ABC Bakersfield:

 

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - People who live in the neighborhood are angry. Many witnessed the incident and said deputies used way too much force. And his family said they want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

The sidewalk where 33-year-old David Silva died is still stained with blood. One woman told 23ABC that she saw Silva just minutes before deputies arrived. She said she stopped to check on him and made sure he was okay.

"I seen the guy laying there. I thought something was wrong with him. Then when I saw him moving... I saw his chest moving up and down...I knew that he was just drunk and eventually he'll wake up," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

The woman said she can't believe the man she saw sleeping on the sidewalk is now dead.

"I had my cell phone out and I was gonna dial 911 and tell them that he was laying there. And I figure he drunk, that's all he is, he drunk. Somebody gonna come by and get him. He gonna eventually sober up a little bit and come to himself," said the woman. "And these [explicit] done killed him."

Deputies said when they contacted Silva he resisted and was hit multiple times with nightsticks. He was taken across the street to Kern Medical Center where he died less than an hour later. The unidentified woman said Silva was too drunk to have resisted though.

"I am like shocked. That's like real [explicit] up because that's not something that they can justify," said the woman.

My brother wasn't vicious. He wasn't a criminal. He wasn't a gangster," said David's younger brother, Chris.

Chris Silva said he feels his brother was murdered and now deputies are trying to cover it up.

"He probably was here asleep, for whatever reason, but that doesn't give anyone permission to kill him with seven cops," said Chris.

Two cell phones with video of the incident were seized by deputies.

An attorney for the cell phone owners said his clients are being pressured to change their stories.

"I think they were proving a point to this one person that they thought didn't matter and apparently it really does matter," said Chris. "There are people out here that really care about him and his voice will be heard."

The Kern County Sheriff's Office said all seven deputies involved in the incident are still on active duty.

The funeral for David Silva is planned for Thursday, May 16, at the Greenlawn Memorial Park at 2 p.m.

                                                 David Dal Silva and Three of His Daughters

On May 10, 2013 the Silva family struck back, requesting videos and the truth via their attorney:

 

"Show us the videos." That's what Attorney David Cohen said over and over again during the press conference regarding the death of David Silva, a man who was allegedly beaten to death by deputies.

David Silva's family was there but did not make any comments, letting their attorney do all the talking.

And he had some pretty choice words for the Sheriff's Office.

"If the Sheriff's Office doesn't have anything to hide, why aren't we being shown these videos? Why were they confiscated in a way that suggests a cover up," said Attorney David Cohen.

Cohen said investigators have used strong arm tactics to obtain cell phones from witnesses.

"To the point where they imprisoned people in their own residences, wouldn't let them leave for many hours until they obtained a search warrant," said Cohen. "If there's nothing to hide, then show us the videos. Our community and this grieving family is entitled to know the truth."

Cohen claims the Sheriff's Office has stonewalled everyone including Silva's family, who have been relying on the media for information.

"The Sheriff's Department won't tell the family anything. The Sheriff's Department wouldn't even let Mr. and Mrs. Silva see their son until after the autopsy," said Cohen.

Cohen said he's grateful to residents who filmed the incident.

"It's a situation where citizens are having to police the police. Why is that taking place? Is this Rodney King all over again but in Kern County," questioned Cohen.

Cohen said he has filed motions requesting all videos be released and preservation of evidence for independent review.

"We want to make sure that those videos are not destroyed," said Cohen. "We want to make sure that those videos are not altered. It's a major concern of this family and should be a major concern of this entire community."

Cohen said the Silva family plans to file a civil lawsuit in federal court claiming Silva's civil rights were violated. (as per 23 ABC News).  Also that day some 911 tapes were made available: 

In an intense 911 call made by a witness during the struggle, a woman is heard claiming officers continued to beat David Silva with their batons when he was already unconscious.

"There's a man laying on the floor and your police officers beat the [explicit] out of him and killed him," said the woman. "I have it all on video camera."

The woman continued:

"I am sitting here on the corner of Flower and Palm right now and you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight Sheriffs. The guy was laying on the floor and eight Sheriff's ran up and started beating him up with sticks. The man is dead laying right here, right now." (as related in 23 ABCNews Bakersfield)

Security cam footage also was made available to the press, showing grainy images of the event.

 

On May 11, 2013, the County sheriff who has not sidelined any deputies pending an investigation by his department, and who has not made the confiscated tapes available or reviewed any of the evidence said among other things:

 

"I'm waiting until this investigation is done so that I can look at it objectively and decide whether we did something wrong and if we did, I'll stand up and tell you that we did. If we didn't, I'll stand up and tell you that we didn't," said Sheriff Youngblood.  (as per 23 ABC News Bakersfield)

In other Kern County news, Sheriff Youngblood's son was sent to jail earlier this month for a year, having been arrested by the Bakersfield Police Department in April 2012 when they found him sleeping in a truck and found an assortment of guns, drugs, and a stun gun reported stolen from a Sheriff's office vehicle (as per 23 ABC News).

If a gang of seven hooligans beat a drunk to death in front of witnesses, on camera, I think we would see some arrests being made, and a much different attitude by the authorities.  Wear a badge and do the same thing, you keep your job, have the taxpayers pay your legal bills, and any civil settlement, and then continue what you were doing.  Is this the country we have turned into?

[Willy]

It will be interesting to hear what the Sheriff will say in defense of the officers.

[AQUAMAN]

People like the witnesses with videos need to tell nothing to 911 or any police agency at all. They should run to the press or TV news with their videos first. I predict these videos will be destroyed, lost, or altered, so all the guilty will be let off. It's another Rodney King repeat for sure, 7 men with all the arsenals on their belts to subdue an army of combatants, and they instead let the adrenalin permit them to do this criminal act of beating an unconscious man to his violent death. Some protection and serving the community, not fair, nor legal, imho. And come to think of it, doesn't it dovetail with someone else around Ludington? They will probably all get off, and get commendations later for excellent service in the line of duty.

[XLFD]

New apps for smart phones allow the automatic saving of recordings made on your phone, so if the gendarmes take your phone and erase the files, you have a backup.  If your police agency wants to take your own video recordings without asking you to copy it for them, they likely have done something very wrong, and want to destroy the evidence.  A good police force wouldn't be behaving like the Kern County Sheriff's Dept., or those agencies you refer to around Ludington.  Being open, transparent, and truly public servants requires you to not only tolerate those who would record officials doing their official acts, but encourage it as long as it does not interfere with official business. 

[AQUAMAN]

Let's hope these people have a smart phone with the apps.. Meanwhile, I have noticed on TV that almost anyone trying to video a cop while on duty with a suspect is usually abused and the camera or phone is confiscated, if not destroyed. Seems they don't like real live taped evidence very much, unless of course, it's their own dash cam that is making them look good.