Kern County Coroner Declares David Silva's Death To Be 'Accidental,' Heart Disease-Related
from the nine-men,-three-batons,-one-attack-dog-all-unrelated dept
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood held a press conference last Thursday to declare his department's innocence in the death of David Silva. This claim is based on the coroner's report prepared by the Kern County Coroner's office, which reports to the Sheriff's Office. David Silva's death has been declared "accidental," with the official cause of death listed as "cardiac hypertension."
This disease can be a rather sudden killer (onset-to-death can be as little as two years), but the "contributing factors" listed on the coroner's report make no mention of the heavy physical strain put on Silva's body by the restraint efforts of nine law enforcement officers and a police dog. Here's what the report says contributed to Silva's death: "Acute intoxication, chronic alcoholism, severe abdominal obesity, chronic hypertension, acute pulmonary-cardiovascular strain." "Acute pulmonary cardiovascular strain" sounds like a naturally-occurring health event, but it's nothing more than severe strain on the heart and lungs -- something that might occur when an already out of shape person is restrained (within policy) by several men and a police dog while being intermittently beaten (within policy).
The "acute intoxication" is also questionable as Silva's BAC was .095, not much higher than the legal limit in many states (.08). Of course, the coroner's office could be folding Silva's drug intake into the "intoxication" level as he had amphetamines, methamphetamine and Klonopin in his system as well.
The autopsy almost makes it sound as if David Silva might have passed away that night, with or without receiving special attention from Kern County deputies. I suppose there's a slim chance he might have expired of natural causes while passed out on someone's doorstep, but it's much more likely that he was pushed towards an early grave by the amount of force used against him.
Sheriff Youngblood seems to feel the autopsy clears his department of any wrongdoing. This likely explains the release of the report mere days after he informed the media it could take up to a month before the toxicology work was completed.
This also explains why he went on the attack during his press conference. He blamed the media for skewing the story, playing on peoples' emotions and placing his deputies in danger. He also stated his office would no longer be releasing names of officers involved in incidents like these.
According to Youngblood, everything about Silva's "arrest" was handled in accordance with department policy. According to the Sheriff, only three deputies used batons (and then hit Silva only in approved areas -- i.e., not the head). The coroner's report mentions "signs of blunt force trauma" to the left side of Silva's head, which could possibly be explained by the kicking witnessed by onlookers. Whatever hit Silva's head (or whatever Silva's head hit), it was non-lethal -- no skull fractures or brain injury.
Because Silva failed to die from anything directly related to the beating/"hobbling" (Silva was restrained with a "hobble," or "hogtied" for all intents and purposes), Youngblood feels the responding officers did no wrong. Everything that occurred that night was compliant with policy. The closest the coroner's report comes to implicating law enforcement in Silva's death is this sentence:
Death is from the sequelae of severe chronic cardiovascular disease exacerbated by the effects of acute intoxication together with the sequelae of properly employed restraint procedures.(How do we know the restraint procedures were properly employed? Because deputies told the coroner and investigating officers that they were. Nothing listed in the report points to improperly employed restraint or excessive force. But the question remains: if nine officers "properly employ" restraint procedures, does the combined force become "excessive?" Or is it fine as long as it's a "properly employed" nine-on-one "restraint?")
If all of this is above board, it doesn't explain the deputies' pressing need to "secure" citizens' cell phone recordings, which was performed without a warrant in one case, and in the other, took the form of a nine-hour "house arrest" to ensure the footage didn't make its way to the news before the warrant arrived.
Youngblood attacked this narrative as well, stating it was actually "only" five hours of detainment. If this is truly the case, Youngblood should release the warrant and compare it with cell phone records. Allegedly, his deputies contacted the witnesses with the cell phones they were interested in obtaining sometime between 2 and 3 am, but the warrant didn't show up until nearly noon.
He also made this disingenuous statement:
Anyone there was free to leave at any time. No one was held hostage. [One of the witnesses] just couldn’t take the phone that had the evidence. Once he gave the phone and were in the process of getting a search warrant, he left. The second [phone], we obtained a search warrant, we waited two hours and 11 minutes to get that search warrant and to seize that phone."Free to leave" is "free to leave." It doesn't come with strings attached.
Youngblood stated he would release all video his department has in its possession. (However, it appears the California Highway Patrol isn't interested in parting with its dash-cam footage of the incident.) As far as Sheriff Youngblood is concerned, this report, combined with the footage publicly available, clears the officers of wrongdoing. The deputies involved will be returning to work (apparently, they were still on paid administrative leave despite reports otherwise).
But it's not over yet. The District Attorney's office has announced it will be performing its own investigation and the FBI has yet to deliver its report. In addition, the attorney for David Silva's family has announced that the law firm's "experts" will be performing their own investigation as well.
The Kern County Sheriff's Office is no stranger to this sort of controversy.
The Silva episode follows several high-profile brutality cases involving the Kern County Sheriff's Office in recent years.Even if the KCSO is ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, this incident should at least prompt law enforcement officials to take a closer look at what their restraint policies allow -- and what sort of harm can actually be done to citizens while still ostensibly "following the rules." A couple of officers restraining someone using proper techniques is probably fine. But nine officers (and an attack dog) properly deploying "non-lethal" weapons and restraint can very easily turn an arrestee into a victim.
One led to criminal convictions of three deputies and a $6-million civil judgment in the 2005 death of a jail inmate, according to attorneys. Another resulted in a $4.5-million court award for the family of a man who died in 2010 after being struck 33 times with batons and Tasered 29 times, attorneys said.
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Filed Under: bakersfield, david silva, kern county, police brutality
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Even if it really was the case there is a lot of explaining to be done regarding the seizures and the disappearance of the footage from both cellphones. Hopefully people will get aware and start using stuff like the ACLU app (police tape was it?) to avoid evidence from "mysteriously" disappearing.
This episode is yet another shameful stain in the recent US history. Walking in a fast pace towards totalitarianism.
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Let Youngblood have the "properly employed" techniques demonstrated on him, since everything occurred within dept. policy, there should be no fear of death. Right?
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So I've punched him and he's lying on the ground.
Then 8 of my friends walk over and each one of them punches him, and one of them has a dog that takes a bite as well.
Technically none of us have gone beyond the legally justified act of self-defense I was legally able to engage in when assaulted. Any one of my friends could have legally defended me from my attacker by punching him.
But when almost a dozen people pile on one guy and each individually takes action, that guy on the ground is going to be severely beaten if not dead. It's no different with 9 deputies and a police dog.
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Good work
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Re: Good work
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Cops being Cops
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Smoked pork
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Re: Smoked pork
This only pushes people to carry weapons in Kern Cty., as the populace now know that the police are far more thuggish than the criminals.
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Re: Smoked pork
I smoke pork shoulders on my Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. I brine them in a apple-tweaked brine for a day, then cook for 20 hours straight over pecan chips and lump hardwood charcoal until the internal temp gets to about 195.
It tastes much better hot.
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Re: Re: Smoked pork
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A few questions to ask
2. Why were any witnessess phones taken away from them?
3. Why did the seized phones suddenly not have any video on them?
4. Can someone explain to me exactly why an asswhooping with batons ending with the death of a may while 9 cops and a police dog are needed on the scene is "within policy"?
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Re: A few questions to ask
In Russia even many normal citizens have car cameras attached to their cars. You mean to tell me with nine police officers and all the money we waste, I mean, spend on law enforcement and red light cameras and going after parking violators and minor things we couldn't even manage to have a few cameras recording this event?
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Re: A few questions to ask
Was he perhaps drinking West 6th Brewing beer?
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Re: Re: A few questions to ask
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Re: A few questions to ask
You watched the video of Sheriff Youngblood's press conference didn't you? First link in Cushing's article up top.
“Kern County says heart disease, not beating, caused man's death”, By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2013
According to the Sheriff's story, in response to the call from the hospital security guard, they initially sent one deputy with a K9. Things went from there, and more deputies responded to the scene.
That account seems to be —at least partially— corroborated by the black-and-white surveillance video that we've seen.
And it's pretty typical for police to call for backup when they encounter resistance.
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A few questions to ask
This is the good ole' boy network looking out for each other. Nothing will come out about the destruction of evidence or the hostage situation except public outrage. These cops don't give a shit if the public has hurt feelings. It won't ever effect their job duties.
These cops aren't just corrupt, they're corrupt laughing on paid vacation.
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*shades*
he caved to pressure.
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One attaboy for Cushing
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Every man, and his dog !!!!
anything beyond the obvious, is simply 'too hard' and clearly not worth the effort.
I call it the "low hanging fruit' syndrome.
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Do we really know that the alleged video ever existed on Maria Melendez's cellphone?
On the one hand, we have the video from Francisco Arrieta's cellphone that apparently shows an image on the screen of Melendez's phone. And then we have Laura Vasquez, who has no known criminal record, who told the Los Angeles Times that she watched videos on both cellphones.
Then we have the police technician who attempted to download the videos onto a tablet computer before the phones were seized. We don't know whether he can or will testify that there were videos on both phones.
And then there's attorney John Tello. We don't have the full story on what he saw at the house that morning. We don't know what he can testify to from his own personal knowledge. What he witnessed. (And there may be thorny issues of privilege there, too. I expect Tello has his personal attorney involved now.)
So, all-in-all, do we actually believe that this video really once existed on Maria Melendez's cellphone?
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Re: Re:
For those who might have missed it earlier, a partial copy from my comment on one of the earlier Techdirt articles—
“Deputies' video confiscations come under scrutiny in fatal Bakersfield beating case”, by Steven Mayer and Jason Kotowski, The Bakersfield Californian, May 11, 2013
(Emphasis added.)
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See, this whole thing is framed wrong. The cops should have had their own cameras recording the event providing them with evidence. Nine cops and no evidence.
They are law enforcement and part of their job could involve collecting evidence being that evidence is often the basis of enforcing laws. Yet they failed to do their jobs as police officers and to collect the necessary evidence to prove their case. How convenient.
During events and confrontations like this cops should be required, by law, to provide their own evidence and record the event ahead of time. If they don't and someone gets hurt or killed and the cops can't prove their innocence then they should face severe disciplinary action or perhaps be presumed guilty.
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If things had gone down as the 'official' story would suggest, and the death was just an accident and not at all related to the actions of the officers, the last thing they would have wanted was for the video evidence of it to 'mysteriously disappear' like it did, as video evidence of what happened would have without a doubt cleared them of wrongdoing.
Put another way, going out of their way to keep people in their houses until they handed over the video evidence of what had happened, and then 'losing' the sections of videos showing what happened makes no sense whatsoever if you assume innocence, but perfect sense if you assume guilt.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Serpico
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpico
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Did you ever work doing technical support? Or do you know anyone who ever worked at a help desk?
You know that when one of your documents or videos “mysteriously dissappears”, the people working the hell desk are not necessarily going assume that the smoke-breathing demons inside your device got all riled up.
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While historians did agree that President William McKinley had incompetent doctors, even measured by the standards of 1901 when he died, he still wouldn't have died if he hadn't been shot.
Which is the same case here, even if Silva had cardiac problems before, it's extremely unlikely he would have died, or even been hospitalized, if he hadn't taken a severe beating from 9 cops.
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Not being shot is scientifically proven to be a good way to increase your life expectancy. It ranks right up there with "eating healthy" and "exercising regularly".
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Consider a case where someone steals a car with faulty breaks, runs a red light when they fail and kills someone. The car thief will be charged with the death, even if it was an "accident" in the narrow sense.
Consider another case of someone with a skull defect. Someone else gets annoyed at them, knocks them on the head, kills them. That's not murder (i.e. no intent), but it sure as hell is manslaughter.
When you take illegal actions, you assume responsibility for pre-existing conditions and are responsible for outcomes.
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Oh, so it's Doctor Cushing now?
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Re: "Doctor Cushing"
Answer: Anonymous Coward (May 28th, 2013 @ 6:05am)
Question: What is an AssHat?
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I know that Newspeak hasn't been introduced yet and while a camera in every television isn't here yet, it's soon to be with the Xbox One.
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Nice try on minimizing the group of policemen's influence on his death. Odd how heart disease + alchohol + beating = death, when up until the officers showed up heart disease + alchohol= drunk guy on the ground. Since the coroner claims to know exactly what properly employed restraint techniques are then they must be knowledgable enough to know that if there were any signs of blunt trauma from a baton it is not longer classified as restraint but subdueing the person with force. I'm sure when you divide the amount of force applied by 9 cops and a dog, you coincidentally get that each person and the dog applied right at the border of proper force.
I think their theory is that if one officer can only hit a person 10 times to properly restrain them, you just get more officers when you want to hit them more.
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This was predictable too. The whole autopsy was another circus, just like the forensic investigation circus.
Remember comments like these
" Possibly even enough evidence for a murder conviction when you add an autopsy "
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/18051923103/footage-lethal-beating-deleted-seized-pho ne-sheriff-asks-fbi-to-take-over-investigation.shtml
and
"The autopsy report seems most critical in this case when if a good job is done then they can catalogue every blow to his body, the damage caused, then what exactly killed him.
Then they only need to try to tie up every blow with the video evidence and who did what.
Keep in mind innocent until proven guilty."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/17321623162/released-video-silva-beating-shows -his-last-moments-video-actual-beating-still-missing.shtml
and another comment saying that when the autopsy report comes out they will match the injuries with what they see on camera. I knew that wasn't going to happen here, the whole thing is staged.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130515/18051923103/footage-lethal-beating-deleted- seized-phone-sheriff-asks-fbi-to-take-over-investigation.shtml
because I do and I suspected the whole autopsy itself would be just another circus. and what do you know ...
Like I said, I want murder convictions.
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“Keep in mind innocent until proven guilty.”
Yeah, I seem to recall you saying that.
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- Trails, Intelligent Comments Made By ME and Not That Biter "Violated", HarperCollins, 2009
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on May 28th, 2013 @ 7:02am
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I suspect not, and I suspect that the body will sent directly to a funeral home where it will covered in makeup to make him appear normal (as normal as a corpse can look) before the family is allowed to see him.
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Suspect
One aspect that does concern me is that in one earlier news story said one relative that visited the deceased stated that his nose had been broken. While he is not a medical expert no nose damage was stated in this report.
Also it is not just a question of if he had some heart disease but if the Police Officers involved used the correct measure of force to restrain him. Every degree of violence beyond that is one step closer to killing him.
Finally deleting evidence is a separate crime that should get the people responsible fired.
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Re: Suspect
The cops are the suspects here, the (alleged) evidence should have never been allowed to get into their hands in the first place.
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Re: Suspect
“Many unanswered questions about David Silva's death”, KGET, May 13, 2013
Just checked KGET again, and while that story was updated May 23, 2013, that article does really still say, “broken nose”.
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Re: Re: Suspect
"According to the Sheriff, only three deputies used batons (and then hit Silva only in approved areas -- i.e., not the head). The coroner's report mentions "signs of blunt force trauma" to the left side of Silva's head, which could possibly be explained by the kicking witnessed by onlookers. Whatever hit Silva's head (or whatever Silva's head hit), it was non-lethal -- no skull fractures or brain injury."
Clearly there is a huge discrepancy between family member observation shortly after his death and the coroner's autopsy report that clearly highlights that one of these two parties was lying.
Should that be the coroner then an independent autopsy is extremely advisable.
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Re: Re: Re: Suspect
Worst thing, of course, is four young girls just lost their dad —even if their mom did kick the man out— 'cause when the meter starts running on doctors and suchlike, the bills can start coming in awful steep, awful quick.
No guarantee anyone's family is ever going to see any money coming back after spending it on doctors for a dead man. No guarantee at all.
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Guess I might have to correct myself, “Eli” sounds like a boy's name to me.
David Sal Silva (1980 - 2013)
Four young kids, anyhow.
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Self-Defense
Seems like an even trade for this incident.
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I thought so.
Nobody believes this piece of bullshit trickery perpetrated by the Coroner's office who is more linked to the police department and the prosecutor's office than they are to an independent and unbiased organization.
This report is nothing more than a farce designed to "officially" let the police department off the hook by explaining this man's lifestyle for what they refer to as "being drunk" as an explanation for calling the man an alcoholic.
This Coroner's report is a sham and should be called out for what it is. Now, how much you want to bet that Kern County is going to hold this up as a justification for beating this man to death and how they're going to explain that the nine police officers who used excessive force and beat this man to a pulp with police batons weren't responsible for him dying.
These are the same cops who would blame the doctor's for someone's death after a police car had ran a red light and killed a two year old with their police cruiser. (This never happened but it's this kind of philosophy that Kern County police are hoping that we believe).
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You know, a fair passel of other folks probably seen the body while it was still warm. There's the EMS technicians in the ambulance crew. And I believe they took Silva to Kern Medical Center, but where ever it was they took him, there's ER doctors and nurses.
You think those folks would have noticed a bashed-in skull?
And do you think they'd keep quiet about it if they had? I mean, after the coroner says there's not even any sign of a broken nose?
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The number that I've seen reported has been six eyewitnesses at the scene (although I'm not entirely sure that number six is exactly correct). Six people and only two camera phones?
Then, too, there is the surveillance video from the house, even though what it shows is hard to make out. And there's the CHP dashcam video, which hasn't yet been released and may or may not show anything of interest.
And, finally, there's more security camera video from Kern Medical Center and the Mary K Shell Center.
So more than two cameras rolling. But you mean six or seven eyewitnesses and only two cellphone cameras?
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Medical Examiner vs Coroner
Coroner: Fly by the seat of the pants (failed)Doctor
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/post-mortem/things-to-know/how-qualified-i s-your-coroner.html
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Doesn't sound like the desperate struggle of 9 deputies trying to restrain one man before he could harm them, even in the official narrative.
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I'm not sure who it is you're saying left exactly what out of the narrative.
“District Attorney to review David Silva case”, KGET, May 24, 2013
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Yeah, I'd say that sort of thing too if I'd spent the night helping eight other officers restrain someone right into an autopsy.
This one will be the "most violent resistance" up until someone surpasses it by dying even harder.
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“Man dies after struggle with Kern County deputies, CHP officers”, by Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News / BakersfieldNow, May 8, 2013
( Incidentally, this “Danny”, last name unknown, may or may not be counted among the six witnesses number I've seen reported elsewhere. )
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victim's disease does not preclude murder charge
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Re: victim's disease does not preclude murder charge
Hold up a minute, there.
First, what exactly are the unlawful act(s) that you allege the officers committed? Start with the very first thing: Are you alleging that the “knuckle rub” was unlawful?
Second, do you think you can prove it to a Kern County jury? If you're saying “murder”, then all of the elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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unbelievable
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unbelievable
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unbelievable
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Bloodstains on the sidewalk
“Silva family searching for answers over son's death”, KERO 23ABC News, May 13, 2013
“Defenseless Man Beaten To Death By Cops, Witnesses Said”, by Michelle Macaluso, Fox News Latino, May 16, 2013
Did the autopsy report that David Silva bled out?
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Re: Bloodstains on the sidewalk
There's a photo attached to the Los Angeles Times story, “Friends, family mourn Kern beating victim at Bakersfield service” (by Diana Marcum, May 16, 2013). The photo is credited to Michael Robinson Chavez, Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2013. This photo shows the corner of corner of Flower and Palm streets in East Bakersfield.
While those dark spots in the grass do indeed look like they could be blood stains, there's actually not a tremendous amount visible.
I'm no doctor, but one thing I know about head wounds —even fairly superficial ones— is that they usually bleed like heck.
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View from Kern County
No. This woman might have heard of “testilying”, but she don't believe in it.
“Letters to the Editor: They simply answer the call”, by Irene Edmonds (Bakersfield), The Bakersfield Californian, May 29, 2013
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Cremation
“Autopsy answers many -- but not all -- questions about Silva's death”, by Steven Mayer, The Bakersfield Californian, Jun 1, 2013
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Another witness
I don't recall running across Ms. Dorset's name before, in any previous reports.
“Timeline surrounding David Sal Silva's death”, by Mike Fagans, The Bakersfield Californian, Jun 1, 2013
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Asphyxiation suspected
“Silva family supporters rally on eve of legal action”, by Christine Bedell, The Bakersfield Californian, June 8, 2013
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Wow.
Something has GOT to be done about these crimes and cover-ups folks. We as citizens cannot let things like this stand.
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Silva family file federal lawsuit
KERO 23ABC News provides links to several documents in connection with the complaint.
“Family of David Silva files lawsuit”, KERO 23ABC News, June 14, 2013
Other Bakersfield / Kern County media have stories, also.
“Sheriff's office, Kern County face legal claim for in-custody death, Bakersfield Now, June 14, 2013
“Silva family files federal claim”, by Courtenay Edelhart, The Bakersfield Californian, June 14, 2013
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Re: Silva family file federal lawsuit
THAT MAY NOT BE CORRECT.
Instead, reading through the documents provided by KERO 23ABC News, I'm seeing "Claims For Wrongful Death Damages" against Kern County and the State of California, both dated June 14. Those would be prepatory to a lawsuit, but those claims do not look to me like a complaint filed in federal court.
Curiously enough, I had been under the impression that David Silva's family had filed their claims some time ago. That impression may have been mistaken.
KERO 23ABC News also provides the text of a press release from the attorneys for David Silva's family. That press release, dated today, June 14, is headlined “Chain, Cohn, Stiles Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Family of David Silva”.
Right now, I'm not sure exactly where things are, procedurally.
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CORRECTION: Silva family file claim [was Re: Silva family file federal lawsuit]
The Bakersfield Californian, in a story by Courteny Edelhart, writes:
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You can call it accidental all you want. But taking a baton to someone and beating them obviously isn't. Seems to me like they all need a taste of their own fucking medicine.
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