Then she said gently, "I know."
"Why didn't he believe you?"
The question struck her harder than the handcuffs.
Naomi looked toward the examination-room curtain.
She could hear medical staff speaking in the hallway.
For a moment, she felt very small.
Then she answered.
"He made assumptions and didn't properly check the information I gave him."
Imani sniffed.
"But you're the chief."
Naomi took a slow breath.
"That shouldn't be what makes someone deserve fair treatment."
Her daughter was silent.
Naomi continued.
"Every person deserves to be treated according to the facts. That's what we're going to address."
Imani began crying harder.
"I don't care about the facts right now. I just want you home."
Naomi felt tears slide down her cheeks.
"I know, baby."
For a moment, she couldn't continue.
Then she whispered, "I want that too."
They stayed on the phone until Imani's breathing slowed.
Before ending the call, Naomi promised they would talk properly when she returned.
And for the first time since becoming chief, she wished she could leave her responsibilities behind for one entire evening and be only a mother.
By Monday morning, Naomi's garage had become the subject of a formal investigation.
The city manager authorized an independent administrative review overseen by investigators who didn't report directly to Naomi. A separate law-enforcement agency was asked to examine whether the officers' conduct raised criminal concerns, while the department's internal process addressed policy compliance, supervision, and employment consequences.
The distinction mattered.
A policy violation wasn't automatically a crime.
A disputed arrest didn't automatically prove intentional misconduct.
And a chief who personally experienced an encounter shouldn't decide the outcome of her own complaint.
Naomi insisted that the investigators receive the original recordings.
Her home-security footage.
The officers' body-camera recordings.
The patrol vehicle's available recordings.
Dispatch communications.
And Walter Harris's video.
She also requested preservation of the relevant personnel and training records through proper channels.
Then she formally removed herself from decisions concerning the individual officers' discipline.
Brooks and the independent reviewers would handle those matters under the city's established procedures.
Some officials thought she was being overly cautious.
One senior administrator suggested that her position made the facts obvious.
Naomi disagreed.
"The facts should make the facts obvious," she answered. "My title shouldn't replace the process."
The administrator didn't argue.
But the comment revealed the pressure Naomi would face from both directions.
Some people wanted Grant dismissed immediately.
Others wanted her to minimize the encounter to protect the department's reputation.
Naomi believed either approach could damage public trust if it ignored evidence.
She wanted the truth established.
Then she wanted the institution to respond appropriately.