Only after leaving the bench did she allow herself to think about the previous afternoon again.
Her law clerk entered chambers.
“Are you okay?”
The judge looked up.
The clerk knew.
Of course.
Courthouse security had generated an internal incident notice.
“I’m fine.”
The clerk waited.
The judge corrected herself.
“I will be.”
The clerk nodded.
“What are you going to do?”
The judge leaned back.
“First?”
“Yes.”
“Preserve everything.”
Her attorney was a longtime civil-rights litigator she had known professionally before joining the bench.
Hiring him felt strange.
Judges usually listened to lawyers.
Now she needed one.
He entered her home office carrying a legal pad.
“Tell me what happened.”
She did.
From the watering can.
To the first command.
To the license.
To the handcuffs.
To the radio.
No embellishment.
The attorney listened.
Then asked:
“Did he use a racial slur?”
“No.”
“Explicit racial comment?”
“No.”
“Any statement linking your race to suspicion?”
“No.”
The judge looked at him.
“But the caller description matters.”
“Yes.”
“And prior patterns may matter.”
“Yes.”
The attorney wrote.
“Do you want to sue?”
The judge looked toward the window.
Her roses were visible outside.
The watering can still sat beside them.
“I want to know what the record shows first.”
The lawyer smiled faintly.
“That is the most judge answer possible.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He closed the notebook.
“We preserve.”
Body camera.
Dash camera.
Dispatch audio.
CAD logs.
Radio.
Neighbor’s call.
Supervisor report.
Courthouse-security communication.
Any local surveillance.
Doorbell footage.
The judge had four exterior cameras.
They captured everything except some audio from the far edge of the yard.
Her own security system showed:
She arrived.
Opened garage.
Parked.
Walked inside.
Returned with watering can.
Watered roses.
Officer arrived.
Nothing ambiguous.
The lawyer watched.
Then paused on one frame.
The judge in taupe clothing.
Watering flowers.
House behind her.
He looked at her.
“Anyone reviewing this objectively is going to ask why the encounter lasted more than about two minutes.”
The judge answered:
“That’s what I want to know.”
The police department opened an internal review before her attorney filed anything.
That was appropriate.
The sergeant’s referral triggered it.
The Professional Standards investigator began with the original call.
The dispatcher had handled it reasonably.
Asked behavior.