When investigators interviewed her months later, Samantha said something that stayed in the final report.
“I stopped being afraid of him and started being afraid of driving home.”
She had changed her route.
Fifteen extra minutes every night.
That was what the complaint system had accomplished.
McMillan remained.
Samantha adapted.
Christopher Wilson was thirty-one, a software engineer and father of two.
McMillan stopped him twice within one week.
The second time Christopher was driving to his daughter’s seventh birthday dinner.
The stated reason was an improper lane position.
Christopher asked if he was free to leave after receiving a warning.
McMillan said no.
Christopher refused a vehicle search.
A K-9 unit was requested.
Forty-five minutes passed.
No narcotics were found.
Christopher arrived home after his daughter had gone to bed.
He filed a complaint the next morning.
It too was closed.
Investigators found others.
A Black restaurant owner carrying the night’s deposit.
A college professor driving home after an evening lecture.
A retired Army sergeant.
A delivery-company supervisor.
Two students.
An accountant.
A city employee.
Different people.
Same structure.
Traffic justification.
Questions unrelated to the alleged violation.
Escalation when rights were asserted.
Drug suspicion.
Then release without citation.
By the end of the first month, investigators had identified 174 stops that warranted deeper review.
Not all were unlawful.
Not all involved misconduct.
That distinction mattered.
But enough contained recurring features that nobody could honestly describe Derek’s experience as isolated anymore.
On June 17, nine days after Derek’s stop, McMillan was placed on administrative leave.
He was ordered not to contact Derek.
Not to access the relevant body-camera files.
Not to communicate with witnesses about the investigation.
When the news reached Derek, he felt almost nothing.
He had expected satisfaction.
Instead he thought about Samantha.
Nine complaints.
How many people never complained at all?
The answer was impossible to know.
McMillan’s Internal Affairs interview took place two weeks later.
He attended with an attorney and union representative.
Captain Morrison began simply.
“Why did you stop Derek Johnson?”
“Equipment violation.”
“Which equipment?”
“Taillight.”
She displayed an image from the body camera showing both taillights operating.
McMillan shifted.
“It may have been intermittent.”
“Did you document an intermittent malfunction?”
“No.”
“What about the lane change?”
“I observed unsafe movement.”
“Your report doesn’t mention a lane change.”
McMillan looked toward his attorney.
Morrison continued.
“You later said the vehicle was weaving.”
“Yes.”
“Where is that in the report?”
McMillan did not answer.
Then came marijuana.
McMillan maintained he smelled it.
Morrison asked why the odor was not mentioned during the initial approach.
He said he noticed it later.
She asked why, after learning Derek worked for DEA, he suggested the smell might have transferred from narcotics evidence or clothing.
McMillan said he was considering alternative explanations.
Morrison looked at him.
“Alternative explanations for an odor you previously said established possession?”