Dempsey stepped closer. "You think I'm stupid? I saw the way you were chasing her around. She clearly doesn't want you here."
"That's not true," Chloe said loudly. "We were playing. He is my boyfriend. Why are you not listening to me?"
Dempsey barely registered her words. He looked at Austin again. "If you don't want to end up in handcuffs tonight, I suggest you walk away from her right now." Chloe's repeated corrections should have resolved the misunderstanding. Instead, each one seemed to be treated as something to explain away. The more clearly she said Austin was her boyfriend, the more Dempsey behaved as if her own account of the situation could not be trusted. Austin was no longer being questioned about something he had done. He was being forced to defend himself against an assumption that had formed before the officer reached them.
Chloe's voice rose with disbelief. "You are the one harassing us right now. We weren't doing anything."
The situation had gone so far beyond what made any sense to Austin that he made the decision to remove himself from it the only way he knew how. He looked at Dempsey and said clearly, "That's it. I'm calling my dad."
He reached into his pocket for his phone.
What happened next took less than two seconds. Dempsey lunged forward, grabbed Austin's arm before the phone had fully cleared his pocket, and drove him to the ground with his full weight behind the movement. Austin hit the grass hard, the breath leaving him on impact, and Dempsey's voice came out at full volume as he pinned Austin's arms beneath him.