And he wanted the city to remember that dignity was not a feature reserved for citizens with impressive careers.
One afternoon, he attended a public meeting where residents discussed traffic-stop procedures.
The room was filled with people whose experiences varied widely.
Some praised officers who had helped them during emergencies.
Others described encounters that had left them frightened or humiliated.
Several raised practical concerns about communication, accessibility, and complaint procedures.
The engineer listened.
He did not speak for a long time.
Then a man near the front turned toward him.
"You're the engineer from that watch incident, aren't you?"
The engineer nodded.
The man stood.
"I watched the video. What happened to you was terrible."
"Thank you."
"But I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"What would have happened if you hadn't had that terminal?"
The room grew quiet.
The engineer considered the question.
It was the one he had asked himself repeatedly.
"I don't know," he answered.
The man nodded slowly.
"That's what worries me."
The engineer stood.
"Me too."
He looked around the room.
"That device didn't make me deserving of respect. My professional background didn't make me deserving of respect. Neither did the value of the watch."
He paused.
"I deserved to be treated lawfully and fairly before anybody knew anything about me."
Several people nodded.
He continued.
"I was fortunate that evidence existed and that other people responded responsibly. But a fair system cannot depend on whether a person happens to possess the right device, knows the right official, or has the right kind of job."
The room remained silent.
"That's why accountability matters. Not just after an incident becomes public, but during ordinary encounters when nobody expects a camera to make the news."
When he finished, a woman in the second row raised her hand.
She explained that her father used a wheelchair and had once struggled to explain his mobility needs during a roadside interaction.
The officer involved had not been hostile.
But he had seemed uncertain about what assistance was appropriate.
The engineer listened carefully.
Then he suggested that the issue be included in the accessibility review.
He did not offer a simplistic solution.
He did not pretend one training session could address every disability.