Indeed, nothing brings as loud a cheer at local parades as deputies on horseback. The most popular public figure in recent memory was plain-spoken former Sheriff Carl Sparks, Youngblood’s mentor.
“One time deputies fired at a bad guy some 70 times,” Swenson recalled. “Reporters asked Carl, ‘Why so many times?’ He told them, ‘I believe that’s all we had.’ If you said that in San Francisco or L.A., you might get run out of town on a rail. But in Kern County we reelect the guy.”
Swenson said he’s withholding judgment on the Silva case until the sheriff presents all the facts.
He said that about nine years ago he watched video of several deputies beating up someone in the jail.
“It was totally unjustified. And I’d had one of the deputies in my Sunday School class — I guess I should have done a better job,” he said. “But the point is, it was the Sheriff’s Department who showed the tape. I think we can trust them to tell us the truth.”
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