Two men on a fishing trip find the severely mutilated body of a Black man named Floyd Michaels. The victim was dragged behind a car and disembowelled, so the case is treated as a racially motivated hate crime. The car involved in the murder was being used for undercover police work but is now missing. Two pairs of officers had access to it: Fratelli and Carlson, and Sawchuck and Dietrich. Under pressure, Sawchuck tells Briscoe and Curtis where the car is. Despite the car being burned out, there's enough evidence to charge Fratelli and Carlson. The US Attorney's Office wants the case, but Schiff declines.
Sawchuck implicates Dietrich, and McCoy reluctantly agrees to an immunity bargain in exchange for Dietrich's testimony. But Carmichael discovers that Dietrich has a history of violent fantasies against people of color. Dietrich can't account for his whereabouts at the time of the murder, and now McCoy wants to charge him as a co-defendant. The US Attorney's Office refuses and insists that Dietrich keep his immunity. So McCoy convinces a judge to rule the immunity grant invalid on the grounds of witness bribery. Schiff is furious that this verdict will prevent the DA's office making deals with important witnesses, but McCoy is confident that it'll be overturned on appeal - after they convict Michaels' killers.
The case now hinges on getting one of the defendants to testify against the other two. Fratelli is the only one without a history of violence or racist abuse, so McCoy has the only eyewitness to the murder identify Fratelli in a line-up. He agrees to a plea deal and testifies against Carlson and Dietrich. Both are convicted and receive the death penalty. Carmichael says it was wrong of McCoy to ask Briscoe and Curtis to tell the witness which suspect to name. McCoy points out that it's legal, and warns Carmichael she can expect to face similar decisions now that she works for the DA's office.
This episode contains examples of:
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: Floyd Michaels' killers were three violent, racist police officers. McCoy uses his summation to highlight how widespread racism is within the police, and how the "blue wall of silence" protects the offenders.
- Expy Coexistence: While the murder of James Byrd Jr. isn't specfically mentioned, Jasper, Texas is. As well as "the Jasper case."Reverend Theodore Dempsey: In Jasper, Texas, they had armed black people marching in the streets.
- Fiery Cover-Up: The Pontiac used to kill Floyd Michaels is set on fire. After getting one of them to talk, they find the car. Their attempt at destroying evidence fails because the car is located on property that one of the cops own, dump the rear seat at a local dump they have access to and the underside of the rear bumper is left intact with traces of the rope used.
- Hate Crimes Are a Special Kind of Evil: The obvious brutality of Floyd Michaels' death leads community leaders to be certain the murder was a hate crime. Even before the victim is identified.Borough Chief Commander Dietz: Let's not jump to conclusions. We don't know what kind of crime it is yet.Reverend Theodore Dempsey: A black man was beaten to a bloody pulp and dragged a quarter of a mile behind a vehicle over a dirt road. You call that a love crime?
- Loophole Abuse: Technically it's legal for McCoy to tell the witness which suspect they're looking for, although Carmichael points out that this is still very morally dubious.note
- Police Brutality: The entire episode is based around this.
- Police Lineup: McCoy uses one to have Davis identify Fratelli and then get his testimony against the other defendants.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on several then-recent cases of racial profiling. The episode's title is an acronym for "Driving While Black." The method of murder, dragging a black man behind a vehicle, is based on the murder of James Byrd Jr. In that case, the perpetrators were not police officers.
