"You're building something without a permit? Step away from that fence."
"This is my backyard. I don't need a permit for a privacy fence."
"Everything needs a permit in this city, and I know people like you ignore the rules."
"People like me? What do you mean by that? This is my property."
"I don't care about your story. Let me see some ID now."
Officer Vince Hargrove's body camera captured everything: every word, every illegal step onto private property, every moment of what would become a $6.4 million lawsuit and a criminal conviction that sent a 20-year police veteran to prison for 14 years.
The camera mounted on Hargrove's chest recorded the entire incident from his perspective, creating an undeniable record that he couldn't deny or explain away: every racist statement, every constitutional violation, every second of his illegal trespass and search—all captured by the very device meant to protect him from false accusations.
It was 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon when Professor Terrance Holloway was in his backyard installing a privacy fence. He had bought his house in the Westgate neighborhood three years ago, a beautiful craftsman-style home with a large backyard that backed up to a wooded area. The fence was going up because he was tired of having his privacy invaded by curious neighbors who seemed shocked that a Black man could afford a house in their exclusive neighborhood.
Terrance Holloway wasn't just any homeowner hammering fence posts into his own yard. At 42 years old, he was a tenured professor of constitutional law at the state's most prestigious university. He had graduated from Columbia Law School, worked for a federal judge, and spent the past 16 years teaching future lawyers about civil rights, police misconduct, and the Fourth Amendment. His scholarship on illegal searches was cited by federal courts across the country. He had written three books on constitutional law that were required reading in law schools nationwide.