Los Angeles Times 2013/05/20: Cell videos show man screaming as he's restrained by deputies

L.A. Times (5/20/2013): Cell videos show man screaming as he's restrained by deputies

[Updated, 6:36 p.m.: Rodriguez told ABC23 that "the more incriminating video was one on the other cellphone." He said that video was shot "while the batons were swinging." Rodriguez added the second phone was returned to his client with no video. If a video was erased from that phone, he said, it could not be recovered because of the type of the device.]​

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In interviews last week, witnesses insisted that the videos on both phones -- each several minutes long -- clearly captured deputies repeatedly striking Silva with batons.​

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"They must have gotten rid of one of the videos," said Melissa Quair, 31, who told of seeing deputies pummel and kick Silva after confronting him across the street from Kern Medical Center in East Bakersfield.​

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Laura Vasquez, 26, a friend of the Quair family, said she also watched both videos -- one shot by Quair's mother, the other by Quair's friend -- and they vividly depicted the violence she witnessed.​

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Echoing the account of two other people interviewed, Vasquez said the first two deputies at the scene woke Silva, who was sleeping in front of a house, and ordered him not to move. When Silva sat up, looking confused or scared, a deputy hit him on the head, Vasquez said.​

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"He fell back and then the other officer got out and swung toward his head," she said. "Mr. Silva was reaching for his head and the officers said 'stop moving' and 'stop resisting.' He wasn't resisting.… He rolled on his back and they kept hitting.​

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"I have seen the video," Youngblood said last week. "I cannot speculate whether they acted appropriately or not just by looking at the video."​