The EMS team arrived a few minutes later and checked Leonard for injuries. They found bruising on his wrists, scrapes on his arms from being dragged across the pavement, and recommended he go back inside the hospital to get his spine checked to make sure the fall hadn't caused any additional damage. Leonard agreed, but before he went back inside, he looked at Dawson one more time. "This happens to people every day, doesn't it? People who don't have a hospital right behind them to verify their story.
People who don't have witnesses with cameras." Dawson didn't have an answer for that. He just nodded. And Leonard wheeled himself back toward the hospital entrance, knowing that what had just happened to him was going to follow Matthew Reynolds for the rest of his life. Leonard went back inside Memorial Hospital and the EMS team wheeled him directly to the emergency department to have his spine checked.
The doctors ran a series of tests to make sure the fall hadn't caused any additional damage to his already compromised spinal cord. The x-rays came back showing no new fractures, but the bruising on his back and the strain on his lower spine meant he would be in significant pain for the next several days. They gave him medication, wrapped his wrists where the handcuffs had left deep red marks, and told him to follow up with his regular physician within the week. While Leonard was being examined, Sergeant Mike Dawson stayed outside in the park collecting statements from every witness who had seen what happened. He spoke to the woman who had been robbed first, who described the actual robber in detail.
Taller than Leonard, younger, different build, wearing a dark gray hoodie, not black. He spoke to the older man who had recorded the entire interaction on his phone, who showed Dawson the footage of Reynolds dragging Leonard out of his wheelchair and throwing him to the ground. He spoke to the younger woman who had been sitting on the bench, who told Dawson that Reynolds had walked straight to Leonard without asking a single question to anyone else first. Dawson collected contact information from six different witnesses, and all six of them said the same thing. Leonard Vaughn had been sitting in his wheelchair minding his own business waiting for his ride.
The real robber had stolen the woman's purse, then come back and robbed Leonard. Leonard had called 911, and Officer Matthew Reynolds had arrived, ignored all the evidence in front of him, and assaulted a paralyzed man because he fit a vague description. By the time Leonard came back out of the hospital 2 hours later, Dawson had already filed his preliminary report and flagged the incident for internal affairs review. He had also requested that Reynolds' body cam footage be secured immediately, and that it not be deleted or altered in any way. Dawson met Leonard at the hospital entrance as Leonard wheeled himself back out.
Leonard's driver had finally arrived and was waiting in the pickup area, but Leonard stopped when he saw Dawson and rolled his wheelchair over to him. "How are you feeling?" Dawson asked. Leonard's face was tired, and there was a tightness around his eyes that hadn't been there before. "I've been better.
They said no new damage to my spine, but my back is going to hurt for a while. And my wrists He held them up. They were wrapped in bandages. Are going to bruise pretty badly. Dawson nodded.
"I've collected statements from everyone who saw what happened. I've also secured the body cam footage from Officer Reynolds. Everything he did is on camera. Everything you said is on camera. And I've already flagged this for internal affairs."