Two deputies who used force on a Riverbank man — which resulted in him being paralyzed before dying months later — will not face criminal charges, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office announced.

The announcement from the DA’s Office was made more than four months after the decision was made. A letter informing the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office of its decision was sent June 25. However, the letter was not released to the public until Monday.

Anthony Silva, 40, died after spending nearly a year paralyzed from the neck down. His broken neck was caused from being “forcibly slammed” onto concrete during an encounter with deputies at Riverbank’s Wine and Cheese Festival in October 2022, according to a federal complaint. Silva was experiencing homelessness at the time.

Stanislaus County is being sued in federal court for the alleged wrongful death of Silva.

“The public deserves better than this. When law enforcement actions result in death, we expect a thorough and honest investigation,” reads a statement from Dale K. Galipo, the attorney who’s office is representing Silva’s family. “We will continue to pursue justice for Mr. Silva and his family through all available legal channels.”

Galipo’s office stated that it believes the DA’s letter “sanitizes what occurred” and that it is “troubled by both DA’s decision not to press charges and their mischaracterization of the events.”

“The problem is, and the reality is, that the DAs are working hand-in-hand with law enforcement on a daily basis,” said Galipo, referring to the general relationship between a district attorney’s office and law enforcement. “So although the [law enforcement] argument is, ‘We’re trying to be transparent and we want the DA to review these uses of force,’ it’s almost never that the DA findings implicate liability on the officers, and it’s practically never that there’s any criminal prosecution.”

The Stanislaus DA’s Office said it reviewed the incident reports, body camera videos and all statements and conversations contained within them. It determined that criminal charges against Deputy Justin Camara and Detective Za Xiong were unnecessary. The letter explaining its decision was three paragraphs long.

The Sheriff’s Office did not inform the DA’s Office of the incident involving Silva until January 2024 — over a year after Silva was paralyzed and about three months after he died.

Terry Seese, chief of the DA’s Bureau of Investigation, said the office became aware of the case when a news agency asked about it in January. After the news inquiry, Seese said he contacted the Sheriff’s Office and asked to be briefed on the incident. The Bee published it’s first story about Silva on Jan. 26.

However, the Sheriff’s Office was not technically required to inform the DA’s Office. According to Seese, all Stanislaus County law enforcement agencies are required to notify the DA’s office if: A peace officer discharged a firearm and injures or kills a citizen, if a citizen dies while in the custody or control of a peace officer or agency or during an attempt to take the citizen into custody, when a citizen is seriously injured or dies as a result of the operation of a police vehicle, or upon the request of any law enforcement agency to investigate any serious incident that agency may deem appropriate.

“The arrest of Mr. Silva, his injury sustained during the arrest and subsequent death did not meet the guidelines for notification described in the Stanislaus County Protocol for countywide officer-involved incidents,” Seese wrote in an email to The Bee.

While the Sheriff’s Office not reporting Silva’s injuries to the DA’s Office does not appear to have violated any law, or agreement, Galipo’s office said the Sheriff’s Office did not report its encounter with Silva to the California Department of Justice — which is required by law.

According to a California Assembly bill passed in 2015, law enforcement agencies must report use of force incidents that result in serious bodily injury or death.

In a recent discovery motion, attorneys representing the county admitted they did not report Silva’s injury to the DOJ. In court documents provided to The Bee, deputies learned the day after their encounter that Silva’s neck was broken.

The Sheriff’s Office also admitted it did not conduct any internal affairs investigation, according to court documents.

Another allegation by Galipo is that according to Sheriff’s Office policy, when there is use of force, a supervisor should arrive on scene to complete several steps of compliance.

These compliance steps include evaluating the circumstances surrounding the incident and requesting an administrative investigation if there’s a question of policy noncompliance.

A supervisor should also determine if “there is an indication of potential civil litigation.” If there is, the supervisor “should complete and route a notification of a potential claim through the appropriate channels.”

Sgt. David Hickman did respond to the scene but did not complete these steps, according to Silva’s attorneys.

Galipo’s office said it felt confident taking Silva’s case “all the way to trial,” if necessary, due to a recent use-of-force case settlement involving the county.

Alejandro Sanchez was killed during a struggle with sheriff’s deputies in 2018. One of the deputies involved was Camara, who was a trainee at the time. Camara was one of the deputies who struggled with Silva during his injury.

Sanchez’s family sued the county in federal court and was awarded a $1.5 million settlement in April. The DA’s Office cleared the deputies involved of all criminal wrongdoing.