She asked whether he had activated his body camera.
He said he believed it was running.
She asked whether he had reviewed the footage since the incident.
He said he had not.
Mercer ended the interview without revealing what the initial evidence might show. She thanked Hayes for attending and informed him that he might be asked further questions after the recordings had been reviewed.
The officer left the room believing that his explanation had remained intact.
He did not know that the investigation was already moving beyond his account.
Ethan Price's recording arrived later that afternoon. Mercer watched the original file without interruption, then watched it again while making a detailed timeline.
The video began after Hayes had already approached Daniel. It did not capture the moment the bag was allegedly placed inside the jacket. However, it showed Daniel sitting near the bench, Hayes holding the small transparent bag, and the two men arguing.
The audio was not perfect, but several statements were clear.
Daniel repeatedly denied knowing what the bag was. He asked why the officer was accusing him. He stated that the object did not belong to him. As the confrontation escalated, he told Hayes to stop grabbing his jacket.
The recording also showed Hayes seizing Daniel's clothing and pulling him away from the bench.
Then the camera shifted as Ethan moved to get a better view.
The struggle was partially obscured by the tree, but the recording captured Hayes shouting for assistance. Seconds later, Carter and Turner arrived with their weapons drawn.
Mercer paused the video.
The recording did not prove that Hayes had planted the bag. It began too late to establish that fact directly. But it challenged the suggestion that Daniel had simply attacked an officer without warning. It showed a confrontation in which Daniel was repeatedly protesting the accusation and Hayes was physically grabbing him.
The video also captured the responding officers arriving after the struggle had already begun, supporting their statement that they had not witnessed the initial contact.
Mercer saved the relevant timestamps and requested a technical copy of the original file. She wanted to establish that the recording had not been edited and that its creation time was consistent with the events described by Ethan.
She then watched the body-camera footage.
Hayes's recording began before the confrontation escalated, but there was a short period at the beginning that required closer examination. The footage showed him approaching the bench, standing beside Daniel, and issuing a command. His body position made some movements difficult to see clearly, and the camera angle did not provide an unobstructed view of every interaction.
Nevertheless, the footage contained details that had not appeared in Hayes's written statement.
Mercer noticed that Hayes moved around the bench before questioning Daniel. She also noticed that his hand came close to the pocket of Daniel's jacket while Daniel was looking at his phone.
The camera did not clearly show the bag entering the pocket. The angle was partially blocked by Hayes's arm and the side of the tree. Mercer could not responsibly declare that the footage alone proved deliberate planting.
But the movement raised a question that required an answer.
She marked the timestamp and requested a frame-by-frame technical review.
The footage then showed Hayes stepping away, changing his posture, and issuing a sudden command. When he produced the bag, Daniel appeared genuinely confused. He looked first at the object and then at his jacket, asking what it was.
Mercer replayed the sequence several times.
A person's expression could not prove innocence. Confusion could be genuine or performed. But when combined with the other evidence, the sequence deserved careful scrutiny.
The body camera also recorded the beginning of the physical confrontation. Hayes reached for Daniel's jacket, and Daniel moved backward. Hayes then tightened his grip and pulled. Daniel tried to regain his balance, and the two men struggled.
The footage did not support every detail in Hayes's written account.
It showed that Daniel had repeatedly asked the officer to stop grabbing him before the struggle moved to the grass. It also showed that the encounter had escalated quickly, with little time between the accusation and the physical contact.
Mercer documented the discrepancies.
Next, she examined the recordings from Carter and Turner's cameras. Both officers' footage began when they approached the scene. Neither camera showed how the confrontation started, but both captured their commands and their initial belief that Hayes was under attack.
The footage supported their explanation of why they drew their weapons. From their perspective, they had seen an officer on the ground and a civilian restraining him. Their reaction had been based on incomplete information rather than on direct knowledge of the preceding events.