California cops defend phone confiscations as video of 'constant bashing' emerges

Mounting pressure from national media and the local community still has not convinced California police to offer any explanation for why they confiscated cell phone video taken by witnesses who say eight or nine officers beat a helpless man to death.

The Kern County Sherriff’s Office has responded to allegations
of police brutality only by stonewalling reporters and the family
of David Silva, 33, who died last week after witnesses say police
took turns hitting the supposedly inebriated man in the head with
their batons. Observers who phoned 911 to report the police abuse
were later visited by detectives demanding they turn over any
footage captured in the early morning hours of Wednesday, May
8. 

The seven Kern County deputies officials say were involved in
the incident (the number of California Highway Patrol officers
present is still unknown) have not been placed on administrative
leave, according to the Bakersfield Californian, and department
officials have refused to explain why. 

“We’re following the same protocol, as far as the
administrative process is concerned, that we’d follow in
similar-type incidents,” said sheriff’s spokesman Ray Pruitt.
Other law enforcement higher-ups echoed a similar sentiment by
implying their silence was warranted by an “ongoing
investigation” that could last for months. 

The cause of death will be announced pending a toxicology report
from the coroner as well as microscopic studies. But the delay in
explanations fail to account for why witnesses told local and
national media outlets that Silva appeared to die in front of them,
after a police beating and while a canine unit looked on,
apparently ready to intervene if Silva would have been allowed to
stand. 

Melissa Quair told the Bakersfield Californian that aggressive
deputies showed up at her door and blocked the exit as they seized
her boyfriend’s phone, which contained video of the beating. She
also asserted that her mother was forced to forfeit her phone, even
after the police were told it did not contain any supposed
evidence. 

“They used more force than was needed,” Quair said. “I
told them that they didn’t have permission to say who could go in
or out of my house. My mom is disabled and has a lot of doctor and
medical numbers stored in her phone. But the detective didn’t care
and they told my mom to write all her contacts down on a piece of
paper and while she did they watched her like hawks.” 

Only one poorly-lit video of the beating has surfaced, but 19
blows are visibly delivered by three officers.

“Constant bashing, this is constant bashing,” Chris
Silva, brother of the victim, told KBAK-TV after the tape was
broadcast on the local news. “You can count, you know – I can’t
keep track. And it hurts my head looking at this.”

This article originally appeared on : RT