On the courtroom screen, Derek's hand closed around the wheelchair armrest. The chair tilted, landed, and Harlan's body struck the support. The audio carried Caleb's warning and Lila's shouted request that Derek stop. Several jurors leaned forward. One looked down briefly when Harlan was pulled by the shirt. The video was less than three minutes long, but its slow replay seemed to stretch the afternoon across the courtroom.
Wyatt asked Lila whether she had edited the footage. She said she had saved the original and provided it directly to investigators. The defense questioned her angle, her prior acquaintance with Harlan, and whether she had seen the precise moment the jar fell. She admitted she had not seen the jar break. She had seen the glass afterward. She also admitted she had initially been frightened and angry, which could affect a person's memory.
"You care about Mr. Whitaker," Price said.
"Yes," Lila replied. "He's my customer and my neighbor."
"And you wanted the officer stopped."
"Yes. Because I saw what he was doing."
Price asked whether she had known about Harlan's federal career at the time. Lila said she knew he was retired and had done government work, but not the title shown on his identification. It made no difference to what she filmed. When the defense finished, she stepped down with the same anxious expression she had worn when entering, but her breathing had steadied. Simone squeezed her hand in the courthouse hallway and thanked her for preserving the complete video.
The paramedic Tessa Nguyen testified next about Harlan's complaints of pain and the medical decision to recommend hospital evaluation. A wheelchair technician explained the damage to the side guard and wheel assembly and why sudden lateral force could destabilize a motorized chair. The defense questioned whether the equipment had been properly maintained before the incident. The technician acknowledged signs of ordinary wear but explained that the impact damage was distinct. Jurors were shown photographs of the chair taken before it left the intersection.
Sergeant Morales described how she preserved the recordings and separated witnesses. She was asked whether she had discussed the event with Chief Thorpe before writing her initial report. She said she had notified him as required but had recorded her own observations independently. The defense raised questions about the department's internal procedures, pointing out that Thorpe had previously attempted to discipline Derek. Morales replied that her decisions were based on what she found at the scene and what the evidence needed to preserve. She did not speculate about anyone else's motives.
Then Caleb took the stand. His uniform was clean, his hair shorter than it had been on the afternoon of the incident, and his face showed the exhaustion of preparing for testimony he had imagined a hundred times. Wyatt asked him to describe the patrol assignment, Derek's comments about people who did not belong, and the stop at the crosswalk. Caleb recounted the conversation as accurately as he could, taking care not to invent words he could not remember precisely.
"Did you see Mr. Whitaker threaten Officer Langford?" Wyatt asked.
"No."
"Did you see Mr. Whitaker drive his wheelchair toward the officer?"
"No."
"What did you see when Officer Langford put his hand on the chair?"
Caleb swallowed. "He pulled it sideways, hard. The wheels came off the road for a moment. Mr. Whitaker almost fell."