Xavier Zamora says he's an amateur moviemaker.
Which is why the 23-year-old grabbed a video camera when he heard a commotion outside his Oildale home last month.
What he caught on camera was a 3-minute struggle between five Bakersfield police officers and a fleeing felon.
Zamora's actions and, officers say, his refusal to stay a safe distance from the confrontation, landed him in jail.
Both Zamora and the man captured in the video, 25-year-old Leonard Marella, say they are considering legal action against the police department.
Officers Search
Officers say they were in Oildale searching for a home invasion robber who broke into a home, beat an elderly man with an ax handle and fled after stealing the man's handgun.
When officers approached Leonard Marella March 11, he ran.
Marella admits he's a former gang member. He shows areas on his neck and arms where he says he had gang tattoos removed.
He is no stranger to the court system.
Murder charges against him were dropped in the jailhouse beating death of a murder suspect in the Amanda Zubia murder case.
Marella also has drug and alcohol charges.
On that March afternoon, Marella admits he was concealing drugs. That's why he says he ran when the officers approached.
The chase took Marella and officers through front and back yards. At one point, Marella ran inside a home and offered the residents $300 to help hide him.
There weren't any takers.
As he left the house, he says he did so with his hands up, ready to surrender peacefully to police.
Another Side
Officers tell another tale. They say Marella resisted arrest and was combative. They say he refused to show them his hands, so they could be certain he was unarmed.
"You had several occasions where he fell to the ground during the pursuit, he gets up and runs away despite office telling him not to," said Sgt. Greg Terry, a spokesman with the Bakersfield Police Department. "When he goes to the ground he has his hands and arms concealed under his body, he refuses to put them out. Despite the Taser being deployed, he refuses to comply with their orders."
The Taser barb struck Marella near his right ear.
"They said down, and that's all I remember,’’ Marella said. “I heard the shot (from the Taser gun) and it was done."
Officers say after the Taser, they used baton strikes to get Marella to show his hands. When that failed, they say they deployed the police dog that bit Marella's leg.
"There's no need,’’ Marella said. “They are supposed to do justice. They shot me in the face you know, that was enough, I was down. I was out, I was unconscious."
"To do all this extra, maybe they were upset from running, or maybe because I took them on a chase, it's not necessary," he added.
The cameraman
There was another arrest that day.
Xavier Zamora, 23, was behind the camera, and he was pretty close to the struggle between Zamora and the officers.
Officer Anthony Hernandez told Zamora to get back. In the video he shot, Zamora appears to step back for about 30 seconds, then moves in for a closer shot.
In the video, Hernandez barks: "Would you get back ... I said get back ... wait over there."
As Zamora retreats, Officer Stephen Kaufman approaches him.
"I'll be taking that," Kaufman tells Zamora, apparently referring to the videocamera.
"It's my First Amendment right,” Zamora says, “I'm with an entertainment company ... I've got lawyers," Zamora told the officer.
On Monday, in an interview with 17News, Zamora said, "I was arrested for filming and charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and delaying a peace officer … and in the tape, you can see that didn't happen … I thought it was freedom of the press to film whatever I wanted to film.’’
Again, Terry says you have to understand the situation from the officer's point of view.
"You have a foot pursuit, you have a guy actively resisting and possibly armed and they're trying to get him into custody," Sgt. Terry said.
"Then have another individual run up, regardless of what his intentions were, an officer had to turn his intentions to him and instruct him to back up."
Zamora was charged with felony possession of stolen property because his mother reported the video camera stolen.
Zamora's mother says her son moved out on bad circumstances and she filed the report to teach her son a lesson. She says intends to drop the charges.
The obstruction of justice charge against Zamora was dismissed.
Marella pleaded no contest to drug possession and gun charges and will go to prison for about three years and eight months.
Officers say he was armed and ditched a handgun that was later found by a 9-year-old boy.
Police say the circumstances surrounding the arrest have been investigated and found to be within policy.
