I didn't know who he was. I understand that. Another exhale. Get some rest. Don't talk to anyone from the department until I can assess what we're working with.
I'll be in touch Monday. The call ended. Puit set the phone on the couch cushion and looked at the television. A football pregame show was running Men in Suits discussing something with great enthusiasm. He watched it without processing any of it.
He told himself with the specific selfdeception of a man who needs to sleep that Morrow would find an angle. Morrow always found an angle. Three times before the angle had been found, the union had resources. The department had procedures. There was always a version of events that could be managed into something survivable.
He went to bed at 10:30, almost comfortable with the belief that he would be fine. He did not know that at 11:42 that night, while he was asleep, Gerald Pitts, a 62-year-old retired contractor who lived directly across the cul-de-sac from 4117 Maplewood Court, had spent Sunday evening reviewing the previous day's footage from the 4K security system installed around his property 18 months ago following a package theft. The camera mounted above his front porch had, as a function of its wide-angle lens and his property's elevation, a clear and unobstructed view of the entire Maplewood Court cul-de-sac, including the Doss driveway. The footage showed in high-definition resolution with a timestamp overlay a Garland City Police Department patrol cruiser turning onto Maplewood Court at 9:47 a.m. And coming to a slow stop.
The officer inside did not exit the vehicle. The footage showed him sitting in the cruiser stationary for 1 minute and 57 seconds watching Raymond Doss wash his car. It showed the officer making no radio transmission during that period. It showed the emergency lights activating at 9:49:09 a.m. It showed the officer exiting the vehicle at 9:49:12 a.m.
And walking toward the driveway with his right hand already near his duty belt. Gerald Pitts copied the relevant segment to a flash drive and emailed it to the Garland City Police Department's Civilian Oversight Board at 11:42 p.m. With a subject line that read, "Incident at Maplewood Court. Complete pre-contact footage you may need." He CCed the Internal Affairs Division.
Meanwhile, at the same hour in his home office at 4117 Maplewood Court Raymond Doss was at his desk with Puit's personnel file on the screen forwarded by Fields with a quiet note that said, "Only thought you'd want to see the full picture." Reading through three use of force complaint reports that had each been filed, reviewed, and closed within 60 days without formal disciplinary action.