“He asked for help. He was yelling for help. He was begging for help. No one came cause the people that were supposes to help him were the ones killing him.”

Those were the words of Christopher Silva, the distraught brother of David Silva, a man who was beaten and bludgeoned to death by police officers in Bakersfield, California, Tuesday night. The victim, David Silva, was apparently intoxicated when he as apprehended by the police.

Several witnesses videotaped the death. One 911 caller said there were eight Kern Country police officers involved. She said she saw, and taped, everything, from the time sheriffs arrived, until the time Silva was left dead on the street.

The 911 call: “You have 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 sheriffs. The guy was laying on the floor and 8 sheriffs ran up and started beating him up with sticks. The man is dead right here right now. I got everything on video tape. This man was doing nothing. These cops had no reason to do this to this man. A few hours after, the police went to witness’s homes to confiscate the videos. One witness, Melissa Quair, said: “We told him we weren’t going to give ’em our phone, and they told us that is was evidence, and pretty much my house was a crime scene because we had the evidence.” They eventually got a search warrant and confiscated the phone. She wants the phone and video back. Quair wants it to be available, and she told that to the officers.

Jason Land, was another person at the scene, and described what he saw:

“Animals. That’s what they portrayed to be to me, because that’s what they acted like. The just out reached for their…bats, poles, whatever you wanna to call it – beat that man ’til they killed him.

Land who called Eyewitness News KBAK, spoke up about what he saw, and was arrested, he thinks in retaliaton. Jason Land was on probation and says police responded to his eyewitness report by claiming he was high on PCP and arrested him without any proof.

Here is the KBAK news video:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyd_NldNSiM?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

David Silva is the father of four children ranging from ages two to ten. This story is all too familiar to another in which a Mexican immigrant was beaten to death by border patrol, a beating that lasted for 30 minutes while he screamed out for help. That crime was also videotaped by witnesses. Sometimes we complain about modern technology, yet it’s clear crimes like these would never be exposed without the use of cell phones and video cameras.