"Collateral Damage" is the second episode of the second season of the HBO original series, The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by Simon and Ed Burns and was directed by Ed Bianchi. It originally aired on June 8, 2003.

The title is a quote from McNulty in reference to hapless detective Ray Cole being assigned the murder that he worked to have handed to Rawls division. It can also be considered to refer to the girls killed as part of the Greek's smuggling operation and the problems created for the dock workers as part of Sobotka and Valchek's rivalry. Furthermore, in the next episode Bunk and Lester tell McNulty that they are collateral damage from his revenge. The episode is preceded by the epigraph:

McNulty uses this common phrase in conversation with Bunk and Freamon in reference to his punishment of being sent to the docks, meaning that eventually it has to come to an end.

Although credited, Andre Royo and Sonja Sohn do not appear in this episode.

Officer Beadie Russell deals with various agencies trying to decide who has to take responsibility for investigating the deaths of the thirteen women in a cargo container. Coroner Randall Frazier establishes the cause of death as suffocation because of a crushed air pipe on the top of the container. The damage to the pipe is deemed accidental and the case is handed back to Beadie.

Detective Bunk Moreland and Officer Jimmy McNulty enjoy some crabs, a perk of McNulty's new assignment. McNulty insists that the door stay shut, as he is avoiding Colonel Rawls. Bunk learns that McNulty spent three hours working out where a floating body was dumped in order to establish that it fell under Rawls' jurisdiction. Bunk chastises him for dumping the case on Detective Ray Cole, but McNulty dismisses Cole's troubles as collateral damage. McNulty examines the container and discusses the case with Beadie Russell. They establish that the floating body that he retrieved from the harbor is related, as there is an extra bedroll in the container. McNulty checks the crushed air pipe and notes that it appears to have been crushed deliberately. Beadie and McNulty meet with the coroner, who agrees that this is grounds to consider the girls murdered.

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