During his first night on the job, young black police officer Clarence Smith (Anthony Griffith) is taken by his new partner, Newton (Michael Massee), to the scene of what initially appears to be a routine traffic stop of a well-dressed black man. When Smith runs the car's license plates, he learns that the man is in fact Martin Moorehouse (Tom Wright), a city councilman and black rights activist who has recently been on a crusade to eliminate police corruption in the city. Smith watches in horror as Newton, along with fellow officers, Billy (Duane Whitaker) and Strom (Wings Hauser), brutally beat Moorehouse with their nightsticks and vandalize his car. When Smith insists that Moorehouse should be taken to a hospital, the officers appear to agree. Smith tells Newton that Billy and Strom should be reported for what they did, but Newton tells Smith that officers are not to break "the code" and rat each other out. Strom and Billy drive Moorehouse's car to the docks. Strom shoots the battered Moorehouse up with some of the heroin he, Newton, and Billy have been dealing, plants some in his car, then pushes it into the water with Moorehouse still inside. Moorehouse is posthumously and falsely labeled a hypocrite.