Alicia Moore, 37, said she was worried that video of the Silva beating might disappear once she heard deputies had the phones.
Her son’s father, James Moore, an offshore oil rig worker, died six days after being beaten by deputies at Kern County jail in 2005. He was punched, choked, kneed in the back and pepper sprayed while in handcuffs and chains and then hit while lying on a hospital gurney, according to court records.
It was a deputy who stepped forward and told authorities what had happened to Moore, who had been arrested on suspicion of threatening his girlfriend and resisting booking. Twenty officers were part of the struggle. One was convicted of second-degree murder, another of involuntary manslaughter.
“I knew James since we were kids. We had little James. We weren’t together but we stayed friends,” Moore said. “Only one officer got serious time. The rest of them went back to work…. I thought if there was video it would be different this time.”