Herman himself took the witness stand. He spoke about his career fighting police misconduct, about the countless times he'd watched officers like Steven Brew escape accountability for exactly this kind of behavior. He described what it felt like to be treated like a criminal in his own backyard at 72 years old—the humiliation of being handcuffed in front of his neighbors, the degradation of spending 4 hours in a jail cell.
The defense attempted to argue Officer Brew had made an honest mistake, that he was simply doing his job, that he had no way of knowing Herman was actually the homeowner.
But the body camera footage demolished those arguments into dust. The footage unmistakably showed Officer Brew making assumptions based purely on Herman's race. The footage clearly captured him using racially coded language. The footage indisputably proved he'd escalated a situation that should have been resolved with a simple, respectful conversation.
The jury took less than 4 hours to reach their verdict. They ruled in favor of Herman Robinson and awarded him $800,000 in damages.
Here's the critical detail: this money wasn't coming from the police department. It wasn't being paid by taxpayers. It was assessed directly from Officer Steven Brew's own pocket.
Now, you're probably wondering: how is an unemployed, disgraced former cop going to pay $800,000?
The brutal answer: he probably never will pay all of it. But that judgment will shadow him for the rest of his life. His wages will be garnished. His bank accounts can be seized. Any property he owns can be liquidated. He'll spend the remainder of his days paying for what he did that Saturday afternoon.
Officer Brew went from being a police officer with a decent salary, solid benefits, and a pension waiting at retirement to being an unemployed, convicted felon with a crushing debt hanging over his head like a guillotine. All because he couldn't accept that a Black man could live in a beautiful house.