Video Transcript: An Innocent Man and a Crooked Cop
Speaker 1 I was born and raised in Benton Harbor, Michigan. I'm the youngest of six. Dad and Mom had a big falling out, mom used to kick the crap out of us. I've learned today now that mom was just doing what she was taught, and for me, I didn't want to ever bring that type of lifestyle to my kid. Violence became a part of my nature.
Speaker 2 I grew up in a pretty violent home. One night, it got out of hand, and police officers were called, and I remember that the guy brought peace to my home. It wasn't because he was mean to my dad. He wasn't aggressive, just his presence brought peace to my house. And I remember thinking from that point on, like that's what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. In February of 2006, I had been working as a narcotics cop for about four months, and I caught a guy with some crack, and he said he wanted to go home. He didn't want to go to jail, so he made a phone call and set up a drug deal for an ounce crack cocaine. I get to the scene, and I see the vehicle, just like I was told. And there was one guy in the car, but he wasn't my guy. And then this other guy comes out of the store, and he comes walking towards the vehicle.
Speaker 1 I'm here shopping. I come out the store, and this guy was approaching me, talking about, he's a cop, and where's the dope? I'm like, What? What dope? I tried to walk around him, and he kept, like, getting in my way, blocking my view, and then he pulled out the badge. And I'm like, Oh, so this is for real.
Speaker 2 I wasn't sure if that was the guy or not either, but from that point on, I kind of operated from that's the guy, and I've got to prove that he's Guilty,
Speaker 1 Sitting in jail. The first week I was just lost. I'm like, man, they gotta figure this out. They know I don't have nothing to do with this. Like, why am I here?
Speaker 2 By the end of that day, I wrote the report that as I pulled up, this guy in the driver's seat leaned towards the center console, where I found an ounce of crack cocaine, and that guy I lodged under the name who I thought he was,
Speaker 1 The police report came in and it was not me.
Speaker 2 And then two days later, I get information that it wasn't that guy, his fingerprints came back and it was actually Jamelle McGee, which was my Target's cousin.
Speaker 1 And I was like, Wait a minute. Okay, this is cool, so now they can see
this, and then I should be able to go home.
Speaker 2 So I could have, at that point, just said, You know what mistaken identity, you got the wrong guy, but I still felt like this guy was guilty, you know, I have to prove it. So I just wrote a supplemental report, and with the stroke of some keys on a computer, you know, I kind of cinched the deal for Jamelle being convicted.
Speaker 1 At that point, I realized, like, this ain't going away.
Speaker 2 A couple days later, when I get the information that I had lodged Jamel under the wrong name, there was a little bit of fear that I was going to get found out, because I did lie about him being in the vehicle. So it was just a simple one paragraph write up saying I mistakenly said it was the wrong person.
Speaker 1 And when I heard the judge say, I'm sentencing you to 10 years in federal prison, I was like, Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 So when the judge convicted him, you know, it was basically like, just affirmation that it was a job well done,
Speaker 1 and they carted me off.
Speaker 2 There was a lack of humanity when I viewed Jamel, he was a stepping stone for me in my career. My career kind of spiraled out of control. There was things even the day that I arrested Jamel that I told myself I would never do and yet, by the end of my career, in 2008 every boundary I had set up for myself, I walked through and broke down. I was stealing money from the city of Benton Harbor and from drug dealers. I was planting drugs to make sure that I could get search warrants. Two years after I met Jamel, I got. Caught with crack, heroin and marijuana in my office. I got caught on a Tuesday. Thought about killing myself on Wednesday. I couldn't see coming back from this.
Speaker 2 I walked into his office and I told him everything. The more I confessed, the more I got me back that little boy who wanted to be a good officer. And I started to not just feel bad for myself for being caught, but I started to feel bad for what I had done to people. What do I do from here? And he said, Andrew, where are you at with Jesus? I remember kind of being blindsided, and I just hung my head and I started crying. I said, I don't deserve him. I don't deserve you've heard everything I did. I don't deserve Jesus's love. He said, Andrew, none of us do. That's the beauty of grace. It's God's riches at Christ's expense. You didn't earn it. You don't deserve it. Neither do I. As time went on, it
became apparent to me that I was gonna have to answer for my wrongdoings. So I went to the FBI and I said, I want to I want to right my wrongs. I want to tell you guys everything I did.
Speaker 1 I made a goal for myself in prison to harm the officer. Whenever I got out, I was deeply hurt by everything that had happened. My turning point from that was I realized that I had a son, and I wanted a different life for him. It was a Bible my desk this day, I just said, You know what? I'm gonna read the Bible. My mind just went blank, and God stepped in and was telling me, Hey, let it go. This ain't even your fight. I'm giving him everything, all this hurt, all this bitterness, I'm giving it away to him. Counselor said to me, Hey, where would you go if he's released today, tomorrow or six months from now? I'm like, Hey, probably to my grandma house. He's like, Well, I need the address. And he was like, when I gave him the address, he said, You got 15 minutes to leave. The fax machine beeped, and he handed me the paper, and that was a letter from the judge saying that my conviction was overturned and I had to leave the premises immediately. So I grabbed a paper, and I stepped outside the door, and I just simply said, Thank You, Jesus. I gave away my hurt, my pain, my frustration, and God gave me an exit.
Speaker 2 that of all the guys who I chased around as a police officer, Jamel was not one of them. He was never on my target before. I didn't think of it much after. I don't think I ever thought about Jamel in prison. It wasn't until we ran into each other after I got out.
Speaker 1 Two years after I get out, I get to meet my son for the very first time. He wanted to go to the park this day. My idea was just to let him run through the park, and I would just stay on the sidewalk. And then I saw you.
Speaker 2 I remember I'm there, and you came over, and you stuck out your hand, and I remember thinking like, okay, good. You know, this is gonna be a good interaction. And when I shook your hand, you said, you remember my name?
Speaker 1 I looked down at my son and said, explain to him why I was missing out on these years of his life.
Speaker 2 Yeah, I think that was worse than being punched, right? And I think at that point is just when I started apologizing to you and then, like, I get done saying I'm sorry, and you just kept grabbing me. You just kept holding on, like, what was going on in your brain? Wouldn't, like, why wouldn't you let me go?
Speaker 1 I was waiting on God to give me a clear sign, an answer or some of what I should be doing.
Speaker 2 I think it's amazing to be able to talk to you now and find out you were battling with God. I had no clue that you had that run in with Jesus in prison. You had no clue I had that run in with Jesus through this whole thing.
Speaker 1 God had let me know in that moment like this, ain't even your fight get out my way. I end up releasing you and walking away. Three weeks in that class, you get to meet your mentor. And Miss P comes to me and says, Hey, we finally got your mentor. We understand that he's done some things at the city of Benton Harbor. And I was like, wait a minute, Miss P, who is it already? And she was like, Andrew Collins, Oh, no way. And I was like, You know what? Let me pray on that. I know God. I think God is telling me he wants this to happen.
Speaker 2 Prince Ella had talked to me that day about being your mentor. She comes down, she's like, Hey, there's this guy in the class. I think God has just laid it on my heart. You need to be his mentor. And I said, Okay, who is it? She
said, his name's Zuki. Do you know him? And I was like, I don't think I know him personally. You know, I forgot that's what people call you. An hour and a half later, you come walking in, walking in, all sudden, I'm brought back to that angry dude gripping my hand, and I was like, Oh, shoot. But I also felt like God had, like, opened this door for a second chance for me to apologize to you. I felt like I failed that day, right? So I said, Man, I'm so sorry for everything I did to you, and I remember you just like, leaning away from me like you were offended that I was even talking about it, and you just kept reassuring me that it was over. You just kept saying, it's over, bro, it's over. And I remember you telling me I believed you the day in the park, that you were sorry, and I believe you now. And I asked you if we could pray together. And you were like, Yeah, and you just bowed your head right there. And I was like, All right, cool. We're doing this,
Speaker 1 And, I forgive you. And the reason why is if God didn't forgive us for our actions, or we were charged for every single thing that we've done in our life, where would that leave us? It's these things that we are holding on to, trying to fix it or trying to make it right, and all we got to do is just let it go.
Speaker 2 I think it's so many times where I'm holding a grudge against a family member, you know my wife, or you know a close friend, and God reminds me of the forgiveness you've offered me. So I just hope you know how transformative your forgiveness is, not just in my life, but the way I've seen you impact so many people. It's been incredible.
Speaker 1 I am Jameel McGee, aka Zuki, and I am second. Speaker 2 I'm Andrew Collins and I am Second.