Debate.
Compromise.
But progress.
Civil cases followed.
Victims formed group.
Nia deliberately stayed out leadership.
Her status distorted attention already.
She met some privately.
The Mustang owner.
A restaurant owner whose cash deposit was seized.
A nurse whose Mercedes sat seventy-one days.
A white retiree whose Corvette was damaged.
An Asian graduate student whose father’s Porsche was held because deputy claimed insurance card looked “too new.”
Stories varied.
Not everyone claimed racism.
Some did.
Nia listened.
At one meeting, restaurant owner said:
“Your car got cameras.”
“Mine didn’t.”
Nia nodded.
“You had FBI.”
“Yes.”
“I had sandwich shop.”
“Yes.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You see.”
“I do.”
She had learned not to say “system worked.”
The system worked for her because many systems overlapped:
expensive car telemetry.
federal duress.
credential.
crowd.
Cross’s bodycam.
public attention.
For others, no.
The investigation helped later.
But harm preceded.
Nia testified before state committee.
She resisted invitation initially.
Then agreed under condition other victims spoke first.
The committee chair wanted her opening.
She said no.
The nurse went first.
Then restaurant owner.
Then Mustang owner.
Then Nia.
Her statement began:
“I am the least useful person to design this law around.”
The chair frowned.
She continued:
“I had resources most citizens do not.”
“Federal credentials.”
“Immediate backup.”
“Legal knowledge.”
“High-value insurance.”
“Vehicle telemetry.”
“Public visibility.”
“A lawful seizure system should work correctly for a person who has none of those.”
That became quote.
She explained incentive structure.
Not every officer corrupt.
But when agency benefits financially from seizure and tow contractor profits from delay, safeguards must be stronger.
One senator asked:
“Do you believe race was primary factor?”
Nia answered carefully.
“Text messages show Sergeant Mercer made assumptions about ownership tied to who he thought ‘looked like’ they should possess expensive property.”
“Several victims were Black or Latino.”
“Others were white.”
“Greed and bias are not mutually exclusive.”
“Data should be analyzed rather than forcing one motive to replace another.”
Good.
Another senator asked:
“Would this case exist without your father’s Bugatti?”
“Not this exact event.”
“But scheme existed before me.”
That mattered.
Legislation passed narrowly.
The Bugatti repair took fourteen months.
Not because parts alone.
Manufacturer inspection.
Carbon-fiber structure.
Windshield.
Sensor recalibration.
Paint match.
Collector valuation.
Insurance.
Legal preservation.
Nia visited once during repair.
The car looked skeletal.
Front panels removed.
Seats covered.
She felt less grief than expected.
The technician, an Italian man named Marco? Could use names. Maybe no need. He said:
“It will be exactly as before.”
Nia shook head.
“No.”