What he didn't know was that the man sitting across from him wasn't some frightened prisoner desperate to get home.

He wasn't a criminal.

He wasn't a thief.

And the gold police badge inside his brown leather wallet was not stolen.

But by the time the officer understood any of that, the damage had already been done.

The young man's scraped, bloodied hands rested on the wooden processing counter. His dark navy-blue shirt was torn near the shoulder, and a thin line of dried blood ran along the back of his right hand.

Across from him, a heavyset white police officer with a round face and thinning light-brown hair leaned forward, smiling as though the entire situation amused him.

The officer had spent the last fifteen minutes mocking the man.

He had already accused him of resisting arrest, refusing to identify himself, and acting like someone who had something to hide.

Now he was going through the man's personal property.

A clear plastic bin sat on the counter between them.

Inside were a set of car keys, a damaged mobile phone, several folded receipts, and a dark brown leather wallet.

The officer picked up the wallet.

“Well, now,” he said, turning it over. “Let's see what kind of surprises our friend here is carrying.”

The young man did not answer.

He sat with his head lowered, watching his own injured hands.

His name was Daniel Carter.

He was twenty-seven years old, six feet tall, broad-shouldered, and athletic, with closely faded black hair, dark brown eyes, and the steady expression of someone who had learned long ago that anger could become dangerous when displayed in front of the wrong person.

He wore a fitted navy-blue shirt beneath an open gray-green field jacket when he was arrested.

The jacket had been removed during processing.

One of its buttons had been torn off.

Daniel had asked twice for medical attention.

Both requests had been ignored.

He had also asked for a supervisor.

The booking officer had laughed.

Now Daniel was sitting inside the Riverside Police Department's central processing area, waiting for the man across from him to make a decision that could not be taken back.

The officer opened the wallet.

At first, he found ordinary items.

A driver's license.

Two credit cards.

A folded photograph.

A small amount of cash.