One of the toughest things with editing work is convincing writers to “kill your darlings,” meaning, to convince them to let go of something in a given piece of writing or a keynote speech that charms them, that they’re deeply attached to, or that they worked hard to create.
I still operate by the “no wasted work” motto. So just because a particular beat in a piece is written well doesn’t mean in necessarily belongs there in that particular piece if it doesn’t drive the narrative/single main point forward.
A powerful essay, op-ed or speech can be totally derailed with too many sidebars, too many detours off the main point, and certainly by too many things that simply aren’t relevant to the main point.
Especially in dual-narrative stories, less is more. There could be some fabulously interesting thing that did in fact occur in the real-life event you’re recounting, but unless it drives the narrative forward, save it and trust that a single event can generate multiple pieces of work, each standing on its own perfectly well.