Caroline's voice remained calm.
"Get medical personnel here. Now."
She walked into the processing area.
Simone looked up.
For the first time that afternoon, her composure faltered.
"Caroline."
Caroline crossed the room.
"Are you all right?"
Simone gave a small, exhausted smile.
"I've had better runs."
Caroline looked at her cheek.
Then her wrists.
She turned toward Bennett.
"Remove the handcuffs once your custody and safety procedures permit. She needs medical assessment and access to counsel."
Matthews stepped forward.
"Excuse me. She is under arrest."
Caroline turned.
"Are you the arresting officer?"
"Bradley Matthews."
"I know who you are."
The words landed differently than he expected.
He frowned.
"Then you know I was doing my job."
Caroline looked at him without expression.
"That is one of the questions the evidence will address."
He crossed his arms.
"Federal people don't get to walk into our station and tell us how to do police work."
"We're not here to debate jurisdiction in the hallway."
She turned toward the federal attorney.
"Preservation notices."
The attorney opened a folder.
Requests were formally delivered to preserve records connected to the arrest, including body-camera footage, dispatch communications, computer access logs, use-of-force reports, evidence records, and relevant station video.
Bennett accepted the documents.
Matthews stared at them.
His confidence began to erode.
Not because someone had shouted at him.
Not because someone had threatened him.
Because people were asking for records.
Records he had assumed would tell his version of events.
By evening, the videos from Riverside Park had spread across social media.
One showed Simone kneeling with her hands behind her head.
Another showed Matthews striking her.
A third showed him roughly handling her gym bag.
Within hours, the confrontation became national news.
But the most important footage was not the most widely viewed.
Ethan Brooks sat at his family's kitchen table, staring at the original video stored on his phone.
His mother stood beside him.
"You need to show this to somebody."
"I did."
"Who?"
"Everybody online."
"No, Ethan. Somebody who can actually investigate it."
He looked at the footage again.
His mother pointed to the moment when Matthews crouched beside the bag.
"That right there."
Ethan swallowed.
"He put it down."