Chapter 11 - The Video Nobody Could Explain Away
The prosecutor handling assault case requested Brenda’s original video.
Cloud copy showed beginning before hose.
That mattered.
Brian’s attorney initially described:
“Mutual argument during which water was sprayed impulsively.”
Video showed more.
Brenda started recording before Brian turned hose on.
She said:
“Do it.”
Brian:
“Dad, last chance. Get out.”
Me:
“I just need coat.”
Brenda:
“He wants to smell like livestock, wash him outside.”
Then Brian turned nozzle.
The first blast knocked me backward.
Brenda laughed.
Not startled.
No impulse.
A decision.
Then several continuous sprays.
My attempts to stand.
Brian:
“Keep crawling.”
The video lasted one minute forty-nine seconds.
Longer than memory.
Long enough that “momentary loss of temper” sounded weaker.
Brenda did not spray me.
She did not physically touch.
Prosecutors did not charge her as if filming was assault.
They considered whether encouragement supported aiding/abetting, but evidence and local charging judgment resulted in no separate assault charge against her initially.
She was a witness.
A cruel one.
Civil restraining order kept her from harassing me.
The law did not need to invent crime for every ugly act.
Brian faced assault causing bodily injury and harassment-related charges.
No attempted murder.
No elder-abuse felony simply because I was sixty-eight.
I was not a dependent adult.
Accuracy mattered.
May you like
My anger wanted more.
My lawyer wanted what would stick.
