CHAPTER FIFTEEN N: THE WITNESS WHO WASN’T ON THE LIST
Outside the hearing room, a man in a gray coat approached Vanessa and asked whether she represented Claire Donnelly.
He introduced himself as Walter Baines, a former maintenance technician at the rehabilitation center.
Vanessa asked how he had learned about the hearing.
Walter said the equipment manufacturer had contacted him during its internal review.
He had inspected the transfer device two days before the accident and filed a service request for the position sensor.
I asked whether he was the technician whose report had been recovered from the courier room.
He said he had not written that report.
He had made the earlier inspection that prompted the independent technician to be called after the injury.
Vanessa asked whether his work order had been provided to the board.
Walter said he did not know.
He had brought a copy because someone at the center had recently asked him to sign a statement saying the device had passed inspection without restrictions.
He refused because the sensor had not passed his test.
Vanessa looked at the clock and asked whether Walter would speak to the board investigator immediately.
He agreed.
I stepped aside while she called the investigator and explained that a previously unidentified witness had appeared with potentially relevant records.
The investigator came into the hallway and asked Walter to describe how he had preserved the work order.
Walter said he kept copies of service requests for his own employment records because equipment repairs were frequently delayed.
The investigator examined the document and said the board would determine whether it could be admitted and whether the parties needed time to respond.
The center’s attorney appeared at the doorway and demanded to know why a witness had arrived without notice.
Vanessa said she had only just learned of his existence.
The attorney said the document might be incomplete or misleading.
Walter answered that the service request included the equipment serial number, date, and his signature.
The investigator told everyone to stop arguing in the hallway.
He said the hearing officer would decide how to proceed.
I watched Walter sit down beside a vending machine and take a long breath.
He looked like a man who had expected to hand over a paper and leave.
Instead, he had walked into a dispute that could affect the careers of several people.
I asked whether he wanted water.
He said he would appreciate some.
When I returned, he told me he had once repaired equipment in schools.
He said administrators sometimes treated a repair request as an accusation rather than a warning.
I told him that had been my experience too.
He accepted the bottle and said he hoped the board would read what he actually wrote.
