"I was worried about losing the police contract," he admitted. "We don't have ten trucks and a corporate office. We have a shop, four people, and a lot of bills. When an officer tells me to proceed, I feel the pressure to proceed."
"Did anyone threaten your contract that afternoon?" Foster asked.
"No. Nobody said those words. That's what I was thinking, though."
"Then that distinction belongs in the record."
Frank nodded. He described the weight of the vehicle, the visible warnings, the resistance in his equipment, and the immediate mechanical failure. A technical assessor later concluded that the protective immobilization response and the towing load had created conditions his equipment was not built to handle. The assessment did not reduce the event to a magical weapon or assign blame without reviewing the equipment's condition and the decisions made on the street.
The report was expensive news for Frank. The flatbed would be out of service for weeks, and his insurer wanted documentation before approving the repair. A federal claims representative explained how the agency and the city would address the damage after responsibility was established, but did not promise him a payment before the investigation was complete. Frank thanked her for being direct and went back to work in the older truck he had hoped to retire.
Over the next month, the story moved into the slower machinery of administrative hearings and legal review. Toby returned to duty after his medical evaluation, though his supervisors temporarily assigned him to work that did not require him to revisit the same city. The reassignment was not a punishment, and no one presented it as one. It gave investigators time to complete interviews without making the directly involved specialist part of the response to his own case.
He found the return strangely difficult. The first morning he put on his working clothes after the incident, he hesitated with his hand on the door of his personal car. He knew intellectually that the risk of meeting another officer like Kirby was not increased merely because he had already met one. Emotionally, he still heard the flashlight against the window and felt an urge to check the mirror after every turn.
His colleague Nadia noticed it during a routine briefing. She waited until the others had left, then asked whether he had spoken with the agency's support counselor. Toby said he had considered it but wasn't sure there was much to discuss.
"You had a weapon taken from you by somebody who refused to verify your identity, and you watched a vehicle you were responsible for get damaged while you were restrained," she said. "That seems like a lot to discuss."
"I've been through worse."
"Worse doesn't make this harmless."
The sentence reminded him of the medical technician and of his mother. He agreed to an appointment, then another, not because the experience had made him unable to work but because he did not want resentment following him into decisions that required a clear mind. His job demanded judgment, and judgment was not improved by pretending pain did not exist. There was no dramatic breakthrough, only the gradual ability to describe the afternoon without feeling his shoulders tighten.