He had changed out of his suit.
He wasn't traveling on official business.
He wasn't conducting an undercover operation.
And he hadn't arranged for anyone to follow him.
He was simply driving toward his mother's house along a road he'd known since childhood.
It was that ordinary decision that placed him directly in the path of a sergeant who believed the empty county road belonged to him.
The road was called Pine Hollow Road.
It ran between two wooded sections of Ashfield County and eventually connected with a narrow bridge near the town where the commissioner had grown up.
Most residents used the state highway.
Pine Hollow was quieter.
Older.
And less carefully maintained.
Its asphalt had been patched repeatedly, and the shoulder became soft whenever heavy rain fell.
In winter, fallen leaves collected in the ditches.
In spring, runoff carried red Georgia clay toward the low areas.
The commissioner remembered riding this road as a boy.
His father liked taking it home from the repair shop because traffic was lighter.
During summer evenings, the trees formed a tunnel of green.
In winter, the leafless branches revealed the rolling fields beyond.
That afternoon, the sky was turning orange.
The commissioner drove a dark gray SUV with no official markings.
He was approaching a bend when he noticed water collecting near the roadway.
Recent rain had washed mud across part of the shoulder.
He slowed.
A few yards farther ahead, an orange road marker lay on its side near the ditch.
He decided to stop briefly in a wide gravel turnout beyond the bend.
He was concerned that the fallen marker could become a hazard.
He parked fully outside the travel lane.
Activated his hazard lights.
And stepped out to examine the location from a safe distance.
He wasn't trying to conduct an engineering inspection.
He intended to note the problem and report it through the appropriate county maintenance channel.
A passing motorist might have done the same.
But two police officers were approaching from the opposite direction.
The senior sergeant was driving.
His younger partner sat beside him.
They had been patrolling the area after a series of complaints about abandoned vehicles near the county line.
The sergeant noticed the SUV.
Then the Black man standing beside it.
He slowed.
"Look at that."
The younger officer glanced up.
"What?"
"Another one."
The rookie frowned.