“Don’t touch me.”
Holloway stopped.
For one second the situation could still have returned to ordinary.
Then Jalen said, “My mom already complained about you.”
Holloway knew exactly who he was now.
The skateboard complaint.
Renee Brooks.
The letter.
Something personal entered his expression.
“So that’s what this is.”
“What?”
“You trying to set me up for another complaint?”
Jalen looked genuinely confused.
“You walked over to me.”
“Because I’m investigating stolen property.”
“Then look at the sticker.”
Holloway glanced at the board.
He could have done exactly that.
Instead, he looked at Jalen again.
“Turn around.”
The teenager froze.
“For what?”
“Turn around.”
“Why?”
“Because I told you to.”
Jalen’s voice became louder.
“That’s not a reason.”
Isaiah heard that sentence from the other side of the bowl.
His attention snapped toward his brother.
At first he saw only Jalen standing near a uniformed officer. That alone did not alarm him.
Then he saw Holloway move into Jalen’s space.
Isaiah dropped his skateboard to the concrete.
Another skater beside him said, “You know that kid?”
“My brother.”
Isaiah started moving around the rim.
Below, Holloway reached for Jalen’s arm.
Jalen pulled it back.
“I said don’t touch me.”
“Stop resisting.”
“I’m not resisting anything.”
Holloway grabbed the front of the mustard-colored overshirt high near Jalen’s collar.
Jalen’s eyes widened.
Several teenagers shouted.
Isaiah was still forty feet away.
“Hey!”
His voice carried across the bowl.
Holloway either did not hear or ignored it.
Jalen raised both hands.
“Get off me!”
Holloway tightened his grip.
“Quit pulling away.”
“I’m not doing anything!”
The body camera on Holloway’s chest was recording.
That fact would matter later.
At the time, nobody knew.
The camera captured Jalen’s empty hands.
It captured the skateboard on the ground.
It captured Holloway saying, “You boys always want to turn everything into a problem.”
Jalen stared at him.
“You boys?”
Holloway shoved.
Jalen lost balance.
His sneakers slid across dusty concrete.
He dropped onto one hip, then both hands, the board skittering several feet away.
A woman near the rim screamed.
Isaiah saw his little brother hit the ground.