Garcia hesitated.
Then gave the answer both men already knew.
“Because individual complaints are easy to compartmentalize.”
No video.
Inconclusive witness accounts.
Different supervisors.
Different dates.
Different people.
McMillan’s explanations had been accepted one at a time.
The pattern only became undeniable after investigators stopped looking at the complaints separately.
Within hours, Dallas internal affairs requested McMillan’s body-camera footage.
The first review lasted fifteen minutes.
The second lasted more than an hour because investigators repeatedly paused, rewound, and compared statements.
McMillan’s own recording preserved the encounter with extraordinary clarity.
It showed both of Derek’s taillights illuminated as the patrol vehicle followed him into the gas station.
It recorded McMillan’s initial approach.
The absence of any mention of marijuana during those first moments.
The shift from taillight to lane change.
From lane change to weaving.
Then, only after Derek repeatedly asked for the basis of the stop, the claim of odor.
It captured the word “boy.”
The changing tone after the federal credentials appeared.
And the statement that the alleged smell might have come from Derek’s work clothes.
Internal Affairs Captain Sheila Morrison watched the footage twice.
Afterward she asked one question.
“Where’s his report?”
McMillan’s written report created an even larger problem.
It described the stop as originating from an equipment violation.
It stated Derek appeared “unusually nervous.”
It said the encounter remained professional.
It claimed Derek voluntarily discussed his occupation early in the stop.
Several sections did not match the video.
Morrison requested McMillan’s previous complaint file.
Nine folders arrived.
Then stop data.
Then dispatch logs.
Then supervisor notes.
The investigation widened.
Officer Victor McMillan had conducted 347 traffic stops during the previous year.
Approximately sixty-eight percent involved Black drivers.
The patrol area itself was nowhere near sixty-eight percent Black.
Numbers alone did not establish misconduct.
Investigators knew that.
They examined context.
Location.
Time.
Reason for stop.
Outcome.
Citation rates.
Search rates.
Length.
Use of K-9 units.
Complaint history.
That was when the pattern became difficult to explain.
Large numbers of Black motorists had been stopped for minor or difficult-to-document reasons.
A remarkably small percentage received citations.
Many were questioned extensively about drugs, weapons, employment, destination, and vehicle ownership.
Several had vehicles searched.
Some were detained far longer than the original alleged traffic reason would ordinarily justify.
Investigators began making calls.
One of the first people they found was Samantha Martinez.
She was thirty-seven and worked as a pediatric nurse at Children’s Medical Center.
McMillan had stopped her three times within eight months.
The first time, he said she rolled a stop sign.
She disagreed but accepted the warning.
The second time, he claimed her vehicle matched a description connected to burglary activity.
She asked what description.
He would not tell her.
A K-9 unit was brought in after she declined consent to search.
Nothing was found.
Samantha filed a complaint.
She received a letter six weeks later saying investigators were unable to substantiate misconduct.
The third stop happened after midnight following a sixteen-hour hospital shift.
McMillan said Samantha’s rear license plate was difficult to read.
She stepped outside the vehicle after being directed to and looked.
The plate was illuminated.
Another dog was requested.
Again nothing was found.
She sat on the curb for forty-two minutes.