Harland looked past him.
“Ma’am, come here.”
Nicole approached cautiously.
“What’s happening?”
Harland asked, “Do you live here?”
Nicole looked at him in confusion.
“Yes.”
“With him?”
“That’s my husband.”
Harland barely reacted.
“I need both of you outside.”
Nicole frowned.
“Why?”
“So I can verify who belongs at this residence.”
Now Nicole understood.
She looked at Derek.
Then at Harland.
“We bought this house two weeks ago.”
“Then come outside.”
Derek’s voice sharpened slightly.
“No.”
Nicole touched his arm.
“Derek.”
He looked at her.
“It’s okay.”
Then to Harland:
“We’ll show you driver’s licenses. Mortgage documents. Utility bills. Whatever you need, if there is a legitimate reason for you to be here. But we are not stepping outside because you saw me mowing my own lawn.”
Harland removed the Taser from his holster.
Nicole froze.
Derek felt his pulse jump.
That changed everything.
“Officer.”
“Three seconds.”
Derek’s voice became very controlled.
“Put the Taser away.”
“Three.”
“You have no threat.”
“Two.”
“My hands are visible.”
Nicole whispered, “Derek, please.”
He did not move.
“One.”
Harland stepped forward.
Derek moved back instinctively to avoid being struck by the officer’s shoulder.
Harland crossed the threshold.
Derek said loudly:
“You are entering my home without permission.”
Harland reached for his arm.
“You’re under arrest.”
“For what?”
“Obstruction.”
Derek pulled his arm back.
Not a strike.
Not a shove.
A reflexive withdrawal.
“I’m not resisting. Don’t touch me.”
Harland raised the Taser.
Nicole screamed.
“Get on the ground.”
Derek stood approximately six feet inside his own entryway.
“I haven’t committed a crime.”
Harland fired.
The sound was sharp.
Mechanical.
Then pain.
The probes struck Derek high in the torso.
His entire body locked.
People describe electrical incapacitation in different ways.
For Derek, there was no clean thought during the first second.
Only involuntary contraction.
His legs failed.
His shoulder hit the hardwood.
His head narrowly missed the corner of a small entry table.
Nicole screamed his name.
“DEREK!”
Harland moved forward.
Derek was still disoriented when Harland rolled him onto his stomach.
“Hands behind your back!”
“They are!”
“Stop resisting!”
“I’m not resisting!”
The words were being spoken almost automatically now.
Harland pulled Derek’s wrists together and cuffed them.
One cuff was too tight.
Derek felt metal bite into skin.
The Taser wires trailed across the floor.
Nicole knelt near him.
“Get off him!”
“Ma’am, stay back.”
“He didn’t do anything!”
“Stay back!”
Harland placed a knee against Derek’s upper back.
Derek forced himself to breathe.
Pain radiated through his chest.