The recording started from the moment Dempsey's cruiser slowed near the park and captured everything that followed. It showed Dempsey approaching two teenagers who were standing in an open area of grass doing nothing that required any police response. It showed his first words to Austin.
It showed Chloe telling him Austin was her boyfriend and Dempsey asking whether she was being forced to say that. It showed Austin calmly asking what the problem was, and Dempsey telling him to shut up. It showed Austin reaching into his pocket with an ordinary movement and Dempsey lunging at him and driving him into the ground.
The footage captured Dempsey shouting that Austin was reaching for a weapon. It captured Chloe screaming. It captured Austin saying he was 17 and had done nothing wrong while his face was against the grass.
And it captured the phone, clearly visible in Austin's hand for a fraction of a second before Dempsey made contact. That established beyond any meaningful argument that what Austin had been reaching for was exactly what both Austin and Chloe had said it was.
The captain suspended Dempsey without pay that morning and referred the matter to Internal Affairs. He also contacted the city's legal department and told them to prepare for a lawsuit because one was coming, and the evidence was not on the department's side in any meaningful way.
Austin's family attorney had already filed formal complaints with the department, the state attorney general's office, and the city's civilian oversight board by the time the captain made that call. The complaints were specific and detailed and were attached to a demand letter outlining the lawsuit the family intended to file and the damages they were seeking.
Chloe's family filed its own complaint and its own demand letter the same day through a separate attorney.