"Did you see a weapon?" Clark asked. Stanton said he had believed one might be present. "That wasn't my question," Clark replied. "Did you see a weapon in her hand, inside the compartment, or anywhere else in that car before you pulled her out?" Stanton finally said he had not seen a firearm.
Clark asked about the flashlight. Stanton agreed that he had directed the beam through the driver's window and toward the passenger compartment. The prosecutor brought up another frame showing the yellow envelope clearly visible beneath the beam. He asked Stanton whether the light had been bright enough for the officer to see the object but too bright for Beatrice to see his face. Stanton answered that visibility depended on angle and movement, which was true in general but did not explain why he had continued to describe the envelope as an unidentified threat.
The medical records came next. Clark asked whether Stanton had heard Beatrice complain that her shoulder was hurt, and Stanton said there had been multiple voices and he could not distinguish every word. Clark played the part of the recording in which Beatrice said she could not move her arm. He asked whether Stanton had felt the unusual movement of her injured shoulder while restraining her, and Stanton said he had been concentrating on securing the suspect.
"Did you request an ambulance?" Clark asked. Stanton said he believed he had requested medical evaluation. Clark placed the dispatch log on the monitor and asked him to point to the call. Stanton leaned forward, read for several seconds, and admitted he could not find one. The first documented request had come from the precinct desk sergeant, well after Beatrice had been placed in the patrol car.
Clark asked why Stanton's written report claimed prompt medical assistance. The officer said he had understood that the department would arrange care as part of the booking process. Clark observed that this was different from saying he had personally requested assistance immediately, and Stanton became visibly impatient. He accused the prosecutor of focusing on paperwork rather than the danger officers faced every night.
"Paperwork is how the rest of us learn what an officer says happened," Clark answered. "You signed this report, and Mrs. Hayes was charged on the strength of it." Bradley objected to the tone, and Judge Wallace reminded the prosecutor to ask a question rather than argue. Clark apologized, straightened his crooked tie, and asked whether Stanton stood by every factual statement in the signed report.
Stanton answered yes. Clark presented the revision history showing that the language about active resistance had been expanded after the officers returned to the station. He asked why a claim that Beatrice had struck him was not described in the same detail in the earliest incident summary. Stanton said he had not had time to complete the narrative at the scene and had clarified it later after discussing the event with Reed.
"Discussing the event is different from agreeing on a version, isn't it?" Clark asked. Stanton replied that officers often reviewed incidents together to ensure accuracy. The prosecutor asked whether accuracy could require an officer to record something his partner had not personally observed. Stanton said that each officer was responsible for his own account, and Clark allowed that answer to remain without comment.