"Yo, yo, yo." "Thank you very much." "Let me tell you a story." "When Osvaldo V. First told me that he wanted to support the youth center here," "I wasn't surprised." "He's not just a superstar, he's the homie that never forgot where he came from." "So I want you all to welcome home OV." "We love you, OV." "Thank you, Gerry." "Guerrero, my friend, my lawyer." "Let me just say" "I'm glad to be back, because I owe the barrio." "And this youth center." "The people that work there..." "They didn't just save my life." "They gave me a future." "The least I can do is try to give somebody else the same opportunity, you know what I mean?" "You got to give back." "And he certainly did." "He put his money where his mouth is, to the tune of 100K." "So say hello to my little friend OV!" "You the one that called in somebody trying to break into my house?" "We don't know what we got." "Neighborhood watch spotted this guy looking in your windows." "He says he's your brother-in-law?" "Jimmy?" "Hey, yo, Danny." "What the hell are you doing here?" "I told these guys I was your best friend in high school." "I introduced you to your wife." "Sir..." "It's fine, it's fine." "I got it from here." "Thank you." "Hey, I'm-I'm sorry, Danny, I'm sorry." "It's... these guys, man..." "I haven't seen your face in two years, you show up at my house unannounced, poking around?" "Yeah, well... it was kind of a spur of the moment thing." "Come on, cut to the chase." "What are you doing here?" "This girl I've been seeing..." "Her, her husband got the wrong idea." "Meaning he got the right idea." "I just need to lay low for a few days, and..." "Wait a minute." "Come on, Danny, we're family." "You remember Owl's Head Park?" "The Kay brothers were gonna kick your punk ass." "I was there for you." "You mean Larry and his crew?" "Look, you can't Yeah." "Keep handing me that bill, Jimmy, all right?" "I paid it a long time ago." "Come on, Danny." "Can you help me out for old time's sake?" "And I'd love to see Linda and the boys." "All right, fine." "You can stay for a day or two, all right?" "And don't make me regret it." "Danny, you're a saint." "I knew I could count on you." "No hugs!" "Don't hug." "Come on..." "Bro, it's so good to see you." "Man, it's been a long time." "I flipped out when I saw you out in that crowd, man." "I can't believe you came back with that fat check, man." "Yo, man, I got to be true to the game, right?" "I mean, and, honestly, yo, it's my pleasure to be lucky enough to have something to give back, you know...!" "Come on, man!" "You're under arrest!" "What-what'd I do, man?" " Police!" "What are you talking about, man?" " Leave him alone!" " You're under arrest!" "Hands together!" " What are you doing?" "!" "You better listen to me." "I'm a cop." "Come on, Ger-Gerry!" "That's my client!" "You're in a lot of trouble, Officer!" "He's under arrest." "Yes, you are!" "Did you even look at the crime scene video?" "Yeah, I looked at it." "It was the wrong guy." "Who, from 20 yards, looked like the right guy." "Honest mistake." "You're missing the point." "That is the point." "Nobody's perfect." "We'll apologize." "Did I hear "apologize"?" "Yeah." "We made a mistake, we'll apologize for it." "Too late, Guerrero has already filed to see the outcome of any previous disciplinary hearings against Sergeant Donahue." "Were there any?" "He's had a few complaints." "Same as any other active cop." "Any substantiated?" "At least three." "I'm not sure how serious any of them were, but we're looking into 'em now." "Let's assume they're not dynamite." "We share them with Guerrero, this thing deflates." "We can't share them." "Legal says we cannot release those records." "It is now a state law." "There's got to be a way around it." "We're not gonna share 'em." "It would alienate the rank and file." "And lawyers like Guerrero are gonna try to turn every mole hill into a mountain." "But if we don't release 'em, it looks like we're hiding something." "Hey!" "Could we just find out what we have?" "Yes, sir." "Sir, your VIP is here." "Hey." "Busy day?" "Always." "But brighter, now that you're here." "Coffee?" "Soda pop?" "Coffee." "We don't have soda pop." "Look, I don't know how much Mom told you about what I'm doing, but I got assigned a field study for my legal pluralism, gender and religion class..." "You know, that is right where I stopped her." "I'm all for higher education, but that word salad that goes with it, not so much." "But you said yes to a ride-along." "Against my better judgment, but yes." "Riding with Uncle Jamie isn't a real ride-along, though." "How so?" "Well, because he's my Uncle Jamie." "Well, he's a cop, a terrific one;" "As is his partner." " It's not the same." " No, it's not the same." "If you were riding along with Officer Smith and Jones, it would be different." " Exactly." " They would be treating you as the PC's granddaughter, and everything you saw or heard would be filtered through that." "It would be a theme park ride." " But Uncle Jamie..." " Has sat with you at family dinners since you were in a booster seat, so he should have a pretty good idea how far he can take you." "Which is how far?" "What do you hope to see?" "The real thing." "The real thing can be real messy." "I know that." "You do and you don't." "What does that mean?" "It means that at street level things are different..." "It's not just white hats and black hats." "I know that, too." "I know you know that." "All right, how about this?" "Let's just say, for sake of this field study, you don't know what you know, you're just willing to keep your eyes and ears wide open." "That work?" "That works." "Thank you." "Absolutely." "Anything else?" "Nope." "Can I wear one of those shiny badges" "I used to get here when I was little?" "You're too old for that." "I know." "You would have thought that we'd be past all this." "You would have thought that we wouldn't allow racist police officers on the street who can't tell the difference between a platinum recording artist and a common criminal." "What's wrong with people?" "!" "This has got to stop!" "Listen, what we need to know is has this happened before with this officer?" "And if it has, why is he still on the streets with a badge?" "Get him out!" "Get him out!" "Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, the white knight... who's always talking about integrity, accountability." "He's blocking our efforts to learn the truth, and we're not gonna let him get away with it!" "Justicia!" "No more!" "No more!" "Justicia!" "Jones passes to Major, who scores!" "Major, baby!" "Hey!" "Ha!" "What are we, in high school?" "Geez!" "Hey!" "Hey." " Right at home." " Look who's here." "Yeah." "Hey, foxy mama." "Hey, Jimmy." "How you doing?" "You look so good." "How come you keep getting younger and I keep getting older?" "Stop it." "It's good to see you, too, Jimmy." "Who are these studs?" "What'd you do with the little brats you had before?" "They grew up." "How about that?" "You guys remember me?" "Yeah." "It's been a while." "Yeah, we got to catch up." "I'll tell you what your parents were really like when they were your age." "Let me tell you?" "Yeah, I'd like to hear that." "Your father, he was hell on wheels." "And your mother, she was no angel, either." "Okay." "You know, Danny," "I was thinking we should put Jimmy in the basement room." "That's a great idea." "Boys, why don't you show your uncle where he's gonna stay." "All right." "Great." "Go ahead." "Keep him down there for a while." "You guys should be going to church." "I am so sorry he showed up like this again." "Well, you know, it's not your fault." "Jimmy's Jimmy, you know?" "It's always something." "Well, let's just hope it's nothing this time." "Yeah, let's." "Why don't we go come up with something for dinner, okay?" "Really?" "This is the most serious call of the day?" "A noise complaint?" "Sorry to disappoint you." "It's not all action all the time, Nicky." "85% of the job's just dealing with the public." "Do you mind?" "We got a call about loud music coming from this apartment." "Everything okay, ma'am?" "Yes." "Hello, Officer." "No problem at all." "Make him stop!" "Kids." "Be quiet." "Leave me alone!" "Quiet." "I am so sorry about the music." "Ma'am, do you mind if we come in, take a look?" "Of course." "You're the police." "Hey." "Ma'am, are you all right?" "Yes, I am just clumsy." "I fell in the shower." "That bruise on your cheek, you got that mark falling in the shower?" "Where are you going?" "I said I wasn't done talking to you." "Officers, is everything all right?" "That's what we're here to find out." "We're investigating a complaint." "Really?" "There's been some disturbance in the house." "Forgive me." "My... my children can be, um, how you say, rambunctious." "If it's just your kids, then why do you have a broken necklace in your hand?" "Nicky, we got this, okay?" "Please." "I was fixing it for my wife." " Is this against the law?" " Sir, we're just trying to make sure everyone's okay here." "Everyone is okay." "There's no problem." "Nada, tell them what they need to hear." "Nada." "Sir." "No." " No, no." " Sir, stop pressuring her." "I'm fine." "I have no complaint." "I would just like to be with my family." "You can go." "I thank you for your concern." "Let's go." "Have a nice day." "Thank you again." "That's it?" "You're just gonna leave?" "If she doesn't want to file a complaint, there's nothing we can do." "I'm sorry." "Come on." "Boys?" "!" "Danny, wha... what is going on?" "Hit me!" "Hey!" "Party's over!" "Hey, Dad." "Don't "Hey, Dad" me." "Hey." "Jimmy, what are you thinking?" "Do my boys look 21 to you?" "No, these bottles are mine." "I swear." "And what's with all the cash?" "Whose is that?" "Well-well, that's mine now." "It's not yours now." "We've been gone two hours!" "And you're already teaching our kids how to gamble?" "It is a school night, Jimmy." "I remember when Mom caught you drinking." "I covered for you." "I haven't heard this one." " Yeah, and you won't." " That's right." "Because your uncle is leaving." "Tonight." "Dad..." "And both of you upstairs!" "It's a school night." "Mom..." "I just said that." "Go." "Good night." "Good night, guys." "Hey, come on." "Come on, you guys." "No." "Forget it." "You are out of here." "Linda, don't do this." "I'm sorry." "I am so tired of making excuses for you." "This is too much." "You're not gonna put me out tonight." "You can't." "What do you mean we can't?" "Danny, did you happen to notice that car out front?" "Hey." "Danny Reagan." "How is everything?" "How's it going, Stevie?" "Real good." "You remember Lenny Sick from the old neighborhood, right?" "Good to see you, Danny." "Long time." "Yeah." "I hear you been sitting on my house all night." "Why?" "This is your house?" "It's very nice." "Come on." "What do you want?" "Ask your brother-in-law." "I'm asking you." "Any chance" "Jimmy tell you what happened at our club the other night?" "Something about some problem with somebody else's girl." "He tell you whose?" "'Course not." "Then he'd have to explain how it was Sal the Horse's goomah and that Jimmy hit Sal over the head with a champagne bottle when they got into it." "The back of the head." "We're talking about Sal Garofalo?" "Listen to me," "Sal is in intensive care right now because your brother-in-law came up behind him." "That can't stand." "You know that, right?" "And none of you guys called the police?" "This is our world, Danny." "The police handle things their way." "We handle them our way." "You know what I'm saying?" "Your brother-in-law's in a lot of trouble, my man." "Look, whatever my brother-in-law's problem is, it's his problem, not mine." "Okay?" "But for now, you two need to get away from my house and stay the hell away from my family." "No disrespect," "Danny, but something like this happened to the cops, you'd expect us to do the right thing, right?" "Fair enough." "This is not over." "Give my love to your wife, will ya?" "Let's go, Lenny." "And I talked to the investigators in all three cases where the allegations against Sergeant Donahue were substantiated." " And?" " Sorry." "All three were minor matters." "One involved foul language." "And the other two?" "Abuse of authority and excessive force." "Both involved the misidentification of suspects, which, taken on their own, not so bad..." "But with the new one..." "It looks like a pattern." "To any and everyone who's not a cop." "Boss, I'm not a policy guy, but if we give way on this, you're opening Pandora's box." "It's staying locked." "We are not releasing those records." "Guerrero wants to change the law, he can run for office." "He's already done the next best thing." "He just announced that he's filing a federal action charging the department with failure to supervise the sergeant." "It'll never go anywhere." "It'll go around the block, at least." "He named you in the action." "He did?" "Yes." "Wow, the Full Gerry." "If he's pushing this hard, he thinks he's got something." "There's a preliminary hearing scheduled for later this week." "And, no, you are not going." "Not your decision." "I can handle Gerry just fine." "Hearing." "Courtroom." "His home turf." "I don't care how prepared you get, you'd still be walking into an ambush." "He's right, boss." "What a nice surprise." "I think I just got my first taste of the real world." "What happened?" "I went to a call with Jamie and his partner." "It was just so obvious that this husband had been beating the wife, but Jamie said that there was nothing he could do about it." "Was the wife willing to file a complaint?" "No." "But only because he was intimidating her." "Have a seat, Nicky." "You said you wanted to see how the real world works." "Well, this is it." "If the woman's injuries weren't severe and she specifically said she didn't want to have her husband arrested, then Jamie's hands are tied." "He could have pushed it." "I'm not gonna start telling Jamie how to do his job." "Neither should you." "Didn't everybody in this family take an oath?" "I get it, Nicky." "And your heart's in the right place." "But these things are complicated." "And sometimes you just need to know when to cut your losses and... walk away." "All right." "Enough of the silent treatment." "Can you just tell me where we're going, please?" "You, my friend, are going to the no-tell motel." "That's where we put all the other mopes who screw up." "I'm covering you for three nights." "Then that's it." "You're on your own." "What did I do?" "It's not what you did do." "It's what you didn't do." "You didn't tell me you put a made guy in the ICU." "I didn't lie to you." "I told you I had a fight over a girl." "What?" "I was defending myself." "I was." "I swear." "Well, great, you were defending yourself against a made guy whose girl you were sleeping with." "Now I got Stevie Angels and Lenny Sick sitting in front of my house." "Really?" "He brought Lenny Sick?" "Yeah." "And you and me both know why they call him that." "Man." "Animal outside my house." "Where I live, your sister lives, your nephews sleep." "I never thought it would go this far." "Well, it did." "And now you got to go." "Danny, they're gonna chop me up and throw me into the Gowanus." "Look, just lay low for a few days till you figure out your next play." "How?" "I'm broke, Danny." "Look, I'm begging." "You got to talk to these guys." "You got to straighten it out." "I got to clean up your mess again?" "You know something, Jimmy, every day that goes by," "Owl's Head Park gets a little bit further in the rearview." "Danny, if there was some way I could've kept you out of this," "I would've." "I'm sorry." "Thanks for going the extra mile, Uncle Jamie." "Just not sure how much good it'll do if the wife's still not willing to file a complaint." "Ma'am, we wanted to follow up on our previous visit." "Is your husband home?" "No, not yet." "May we come in a minute?" "Yes." "Quickly." "We're here because your neighbors have expressed concern about what's going on in this house with you and your children." "I told you we're fine." "Okay, but we just wanted a chance to talk to you and your kids separately." "This is not necessary." "Ivano is the father of my children." "He provides." "It also looks like he beats you and threatens you to keep quiet about it." "Nicky..." "How old are you?" "You are a schoolgirl." "Do you have a husband of your own?" "Children to take care of?" "No, but..." "If the police take away my husband, who pays the rent?" "Who puts food on the table?" "Do you want us to end up in a shelter, like homeless people?" "Ma'am, there are other options." "Mama, is everything all right?" "It's okay." "Take your homework and go back to your room." "I think you should go now." "Ivano, I swear, they just showed up..." "Shh!" "Your neighbors have expressed some concern to us about the condition of your children." "Officer, I-I think we have a misunderstanding." "You look at me and you see someone who fixes boilers, unclogs toilets." "But back home," "I was prosecutor for the state." "I understand the law as well as you do." "And I know that you have no reason to keep bothering us." "Then why don't you let your wife speak to us on her own?" "Stop it." "And it's you." "It is you." "Please, we have cooperated enough." "Now you must go." "Here." "You can take this with you." "Please, here, here." "Go, go." "Take this with you." " Take the garbage." " We're not your garbage men." "Baez, I'm going in." "If you don't hear from me in ten, 15 minutes," "I want you to send a 10-13 to the address I gave you, okay?" "Yeah." "What's the matter?" "Afraid somebody's gonna see you, put you in the FBI scrapbook?" "Come on, would ya?" "You know I counted about a dozen indictments out there?" "And that's just sitting at the bar." "Tony, give us a couple of minutes, will you?" "I'm not wearing a wire, okay?" "I'm not here on official police business." "Well, it's good to see you again, Danny." "Why don't you take a seat?" "Make yourself comfortable." "I don't have time." "Neither does your brother-in-law." "First and foremost, you two need to stay away from my house." "This was never about you or your wife and kids, Danny." "But if I was Jimmy, I wouldn't buy tickets to the ballet next season." "Unless it's the Nutcracker." "I can't help it." "I got to be me." "I'm sick." "Look, Jimmy screwed up, okay?" "What can we do to make it right?" "You know how this thing of ours works." "They're saying Sal may have brain damage." "Well, some would say that's a preexisting condition." "This isn't a damn joke." "Jimmy disrespected the club." "He disrespected the borgata." "Bottom line... he's got to go." "Got to go?" "You do realize you're talking to an NYPD Police Detective." "And talking about whacking his brother-in-law, on top of that." "You said it yourself..." "You're not here as a cop." "I know what I said, okay?" "But both you know that I can't and won't let that happen." "I don't see where you have a choice." "Then maybe you need glasses." "How's that motel where you got Jimmy?" "They got room service?" "Look, I got issues with Jimmy, myself." "Okay?" "But he's my brother-in-law, godfather to my kids." "I'm just here to work something out, not to sign off on a hit." "Danny, you and me always got along, right?" "And I've always had a soft spot for Linda." "So here's what I'm saying to you." "If you're willing to bring Jimmy in here, personally, to apologize," "I promise he won't end up on a slab." " What does that mean?" " There's gonna be a conversation." "It's gonna be serious." "But there won't be a funeral." "I promise you, you deliver him personally, that's the end of it." "Well, end of it or not, it would behoove both of you to stay away from my house." "Done." "As long as Jimmy shows up here tonight." "If not, all bets are off, pal." "So be it." "And Danny?" "I wouldn't talk this over with the wife." "Pop." "Yeah." "You got a minute?" "Yeah, sure." "What's up?" "When Guerrero dropped me in the middle of this thing, he had a reason." "So I pulled all my files." "And?" "And one was missing." "How do you know it was just one?" "Pop, I remember every rip I ever got, and the worst one was in that file." "And you think I'd know where it is?" "Well, I'm asking my father, who was commissioner at the time I got the rip." "If you're implying that I tried to bury it, son..." "No, no." "I'm not." "'Cause I wouldn't and I didn't." "Well, don't get cranky." "I'm just... trying to eliminate the possibilities." "So what's left?" "That it got lost in a warehouse or missing when we went digital." "There you go." "Or that Gerry Guerrero got to it." "Yeah." "How?" "It would be dangerously naive not to think that he has people in the department in his pocket." "Want a drink?" "Yes, I do." "You're not the pizza guy." "And you're not Jimmy." "Where is he?" "Jimmy." "Cops are here." "Hey, Danny." "What's up, man?" "You call this keeping a low profile?" "Colbert is on." "I love him." "Hey, you." "Why don't you beat it, okay?" "Yeah." "What do you want me to do, go powder my nose?" "Come on, baby." "Powder your nose, let's go." "There better be an extra 50 on that night table when I come back." "Get some clothes on." "We got to go." "Where are we going?" "You can't stay here anymore." "Okay, but where we going?" "Would you just put some clothes on, already?" "Come on." "Hey, Danny." "You got an extra 50?" "Hey, boss." "We got one under." "Officer Reagan." "I want to speak with you now." "How can I help you?" "This little girl you bring by my house before." "What is your relation to her?" "I don't see how that's any of your business." "She left this, her phone number." " In my home." " All right, calm down." "I want you to give her a message from me." "I'm not your personal delivery service!" "You tell her that if she comes by my house one more time, it will not be good for her or you." "You're stepping up pretty close to the line, sir." "No, you are coming too close to the line!" "This is harassment." "I told you, I know my rights." "You make sure she does, too." "Rodney Beckett?" "Who wants to know?" "Lieutenant Gormley, NYPD." "You're not an easy man to find." "I haven't used the name Beckett in 12 years." "And I haven't had nothing to do with the police in even longer." "It involves an old case of my boss, Frank Reagan." "That's another name I don't like to think about." "See this?" "That's my Frank Reagan story." "This happened because of him." "We could use your assistance." "Heard that before." "Right before the cuffs go on." "It's a respectful request, not a demand." "Frank Reagan is asking me for help?" "Seriously?" "Yeah." "Lord, thank you for keeping me alive to see this day." "So..." "You talked to the guys and you straightened it out, right?" "I did what I could." "Well, what'd they say?" "What do you think they said?" "You know, Jimmy, you put me in a bad spot." "You put me in a bad spot with my family, with my job." "Wh-wh-what are you telling me, Danny?" "You couldn't get me out of this?" "I'm not gonna lie to you." "It's not good." "What do you mean, "it's not good"?" "Am I about to get clipped?" "Man." "So now what?" "You just, you just gonna hand me over to them?" "Okay, okay, okay." "Just give me a minute." "Take all the time you want." "Danny." "I'm just asking, is there nothing else we could do?" "Anything?" "Get down." "Stay down." "All right." "Man." "This is what's gonna happen." "I'm taking you to the airport, I'm putting you on the last flight out of town, I'm gonna give you a few bucks, and you're gonna start a new life somewhere else." "And leave you and my kid sister to clean up after me again?" "No." "No, no, Danny." "Take me back." "Jimmy, would you just shut your mouth for once in your life?" "No, when we walked into Owl's Head park that day," "I said we were brothers." "Well, it's a good thing Larry and the rest didn't show up." "No." "I'm not gonna leave two goons sitting out front of your house every night waiting for me to come back." "Jimmy." "No." "I'm not gonna do it, Danny." " Just stop." " No." "I'm not gonna do it." "Turn back." "Turn around." "You want me to turn around?" "I want you to turn around." "You want to go back?" "Yeah." "I want to go back." "All right." "I'm gonna go back." "Hey, Danny." "How bad is it gonna be?" "You're not gonna die tonight, if that's what you're thinking." "That's something." "All right, moment of truth." "Hey." "Still got time to change your mind." "I'll put you on a flight to Florida right now." "Nah, I got to do this, Danny." "You know me, six months from now, I'll be back here in trouble all over again." "Did you tell them to go easy on my teeth?" "I've always had nice teeth." "All right." "I love you, bro." "Jamie, did that lady Nada ever show up?" "No, but her husband was here earlier with a little too much to say." "I made a terrible mistake." "Nada just called me screaming." "They had a fight after the last time we were over there." "She told me to come here, but" "I couldn't understand what she was saying." "I don't know anything about it." "Jamie, you better get her out of here." "It's about to get really ugly." "What?" "Where are you going?" "Where are you taking my son?" "Mom?" "Mom?" "Mom?" "Ma'am?" "Ma'am?" "Whoa, wait." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Mom." "Mom." "We will explain everything to you when we get to the juvenile room." "Come on." "Come on." "You!" "This is all your fault!" "Why couldn't you leave us alone?" "I don't understand, Nada." "What happened?" "My husband attacked me after you left." "He beat me till my son had to defend me!" "Now my husband is stabbed, in the hospital, and my son is under arrest." "He is 12... 12!" "My God, I am so sorry." "No!" "You stay away!" "Stupid girl!" "You've done enough!" "He's got four broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a concussion." "Well..." "CAT scan came back okay, so... that's good news." "Did you know?" "Did I know what?" "Don't play with me, Danny." "Did you know this was gonna happen?" "Linda, I'm a cop." "That's not an answer." "You knew where he was." "You dropped him off at that motel he was staying at." "I always told you there were gonna be things that I would never be able to talk about." "But this time I need to know." "What you need to know is that your brother's alive, and your family is safe." "And that's really all that matters right now." "You understand that the purpose of this hearing is to challenge your department's refusal to release officers' disciplinary records, don't you?" "It is my understanding that state law prevents me from releasing them." "Yeah, but you can make an exception, can't you?" "In certain cases." "And yet, you consistently choose not to." "Why is that?" "I choose to protect my officers' privacy." "Most complaints are unsubstantiated." "Well, you know I'm only asking you about substantiated complaints." "The vast majority of all complaints are second-guessing over minor matters." "And we're supposed to take your word for it." "Why?" "Because you have the power of the state, and the state always knows best?" "I didn't say that." "No?" "Then what would you say?" "That it's part of my job to exercise my judgment as I see fit." "So your officers always get the benefit of the doubt." "When it is merited." "Why?" "Just because they carry a gun and wear a badge?" "Because they routinely make split-second decisions under the most difficult circumstances." "Don't you have a more personal reason for blocking the release of these disciplinary reports?" "I do not." "You do not?" "Isn't it true that you yourself were disciplined more than once while you were a police officer in proceedings that were not public until now?" "Your Honor, we object." "It is not clear what proceedings Mr. Guerrero is referring to." "Your Honor, these records were given to my office by a complainant in the original action." "It's a hearing." "I'll allow you to ask about them... for now." "Commissioner Reagan, do you recall being disciplined for the use of excessive force against one Rodney Beckett?" "Yes." "A third party who witnessed the incident filed a complaint." "And when you spoke to that third party for purposes of this hearing, he confirmed it." "Did you also speak to the aggrieved party?" "His whereabouts are unknown." "Well, it would be useful to hear his account." "Would that we could." "You can." "He's here." "Mr. Beckett?" "Mr. Beckett is here of his own volition and is willing to testify as to what happened." " No." "Your Honor, I object to this..." " Mr. Beckett has also thoughtfully provided an affidavit that states that he was on PCP and fell down the stairs accidentally." "Mr. Beckett." "Thank you, Your Honor." "How's the arm, Rodney?" "Still can't straighten it all the way." "And it still hurts when it's about to rain." "It was good of you to come to court." "Didn't do it for you." "Did it for me." "To show I'm not the man I was." "For what it's worth, you did the right thing." "Will you accept my thanks?" "Just be careful of the elbow." "How much did that cost you?" "Not as much as you think, Gerry." "Come on." "You must have had some leverage." "It was his choice to come to court, just as it was your choice to tip your hand ahead of time." "Okay, okay." "Okay, you got me there." "But it doesn't mean I'm wrong about the bigger issue." "The public has a right to know if you're shielding officers with prior bad acts." "The sergeant who clothes-lined your client has been assigned modified duty and been encouraged to seek opportunities elsewhere." "You do see things my way, Commissioner." "No." "But we take care of our own, and that sword cuts both ways." "And one more thing, Gerry, and I mean this in the most helpful way." "Yeah?" "Never assume that you know everything I know... about you." "They pass a tax on talking?" "Yup." "Twenty after." " What?" " Mom thinks when talk stops in a group, it's either 20 minutes before or 20 minutes after the hour." "It's true." "Nah, that's bunk." "Plus I see more long faces than the finish line at Belmont." "Some of us had a long week, Pop." "Yeah, I'm pretty much all talked out myself." "Yeah, well, that's what happens when you talk out of both sides of your mouth." "What?" "Ixnay." "Nothing." "Thank you." "Okay." "So, Dad, how come none of us ever heard that you got placed on modified before?" "Yeah, Dad, how come?" "I can think of a dozen good reasons." "Because it was only people in the department that were supposed to know about it." "We're part of the department, aren't we?" "At the time." "And why is that?" "Because not everybody can understand what we do and how we do it." "It's easy to armchair quarterback." "It's a whole other thing being in the arena." "But shouldn't you have to answer to somebody beside yourselves?" "Otherwise who keeps you honest?" "Yeah, what about that?" "Look, it's an imperfect system run by imperfect people, okay?" "Why does that excuse never work for me?" "Well, do you really want us to answer that?" "'Cause we try harder." "But sometimes, it doesn't always work out." "And what about if trying makes things worse?" "At least you tried." "There's that." "And what's the alternative?" "Every man for himself?" "If you're gonna try and make a difference in the world, you're gonna get your hands dirty sometimes." "Goes with." "Not that you shouldn't be held accountable." "Well, as long as they understand why you had to get down in the dirt in the first place." "Nicky, you made a misstep, but you were walking in the right direction." "That counts." "== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man"