Jonathan approached. Excuse me, I'm an attorney. I was in the lobby from the beginning of this. I have contemporaneous notes if they're useful. Camille looked at him for a moment.
When did you start writing? 8:19. When the officer made physical contact. Before you knew who I was. Yes.
Then they may be very useful, she said. Thank you. She did not ask for his card. She wrote for another 3 minutes and then she stood and walked to the judicial administration office on the second floor. Ethan Cole at the screening station looked at the form in his hands.
He had described the encounter in a way that was by any careful examination not accurate. He had described verbal aggression where there had been verbal insistence. He had described an attempt to push past security personnel where there had been a refusal to walk away from a reasonable request. He had described interference with security operations when what had occurred was a repeated documented request for standard verification. He had also activated a manual override on the recording system.
He had also failed to complete verification at any point before his supervisor was notified by external staff. He had also used his baton as a control mechanism on a person who had never attempted physical resistance. He had also made physical contact in the lobby without cause. He put the form in his desk drawer. He was still there when his supervisor came back around the corner and said quietly that there was going to be a review.
Upstairs in the judicial administration office, Camille Johnson sat across from the duty coordinator and gave a statement that lasted 22 minutes. She described the credential failure, the request for directory verification, the refusals, the request for a supervisor, the refusals, the physical contact in the lobby, the escort to secondary screening, the nonfunctional camera indicator, the form was written before verification was complete, the baton was placed across the doorway, the manual override of the camera panel. She described every event in the order it occurred. She did not describe anything she had not directly observed. She did not characterize Ethan's motivations.
She described his actions and their sequence and their duration. When she finished, the duty coordinator sat back in her chair and said nothing for a moment. Do you want to file a formal complaint? I want a complete record, Camille said. I want access logs, radio traffic, the incident report as written before any revision, the recording system activity log, and all witness statements.
I want those preserved immediately before anyone has reason to revise them. I'll make those requests. I want confirmation of each request in writing. The coordinator began making notes. Camille stood.
I also want it documented, she said, that I am capable of filing a complaint as a private individual who was improperly detained, not as a judge. The title should not be what determines whether the record is accurate. She left the office and walked down the hall to the courtroom where her special assignment briefing was waiting. 41 minutes late. She did not think about the room.