The family of a man who died after being beaten by Kern County Sheriff's deputies and attacked by a police dog have filed a federal civil rights claim against the officers involved, the department and other agencies, a precursor to a lawsuit.
The death of David Silva — which a Kern County autopsy report said was accidental due to hypertensive heart disease — garnered widespread attention because of the number of witnesses to the beating who stepped forward and because officers later detained two witnesses until they turned over their cellphones with video recordings.
One of those phones was later found to have no recording of the incident.
The wrongful-death claim was filed against the nine officers who were at the scene, the Kern County Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol, Kern County, and the state of California.
LA Times, 6/15/13; see also TurnTo23 TV, 6/14/13; Bakersfield Californian, 6/14/13.