[AN I AM SECOND CONVERSATION]
[JAMEEL McGEE] 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.
[ANDREW COLLINS] 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 cause 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 gonna do for the rest of my life.
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 of 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.
I'm here shopping, I come out of the store,
and this guy was approaching me, talking about, he's a cop
and, "Where is 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."
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.
Sitting in jail, the first week, I was just lost.
I'm like, "Man, they got to figure this out. They know I have nothing to do
with this." I was like, "Why am I here?"
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.
The police report came in and it was not me.
And then two days later, I get information that it wasn't that guy.
His fingerprints came back, and it was actually Jameel McGee,
which was my target's cousin.
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.
So I could have, at that point, just said, "You know what, mistaken identity, 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 Jameel being convicted.
At that point, I realized, like, this ain't going away.
Couple days later, when I get the information that I had lodged Jameel 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."
When I heard the judge say, "I'm sentencing you to 10 years in
federal prison." I was like, "Oh, wow."
Actually when the judge convicted him, you know,
it was basically like just affirmation that it was a job well done.
And they carted me off.
There was a lack of humanity when I viewed Jameel.
He was a stepping stone, for me, in my career.
My career, kind of, spiraled out of control.
even the day that I arrested Jameel 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 Jameel, 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.
With the encouragment from his wife, Andrew meets with a pastor in hope for a new direction for his life.
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.
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."
And 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 going to have to answer for my wrongdoings.
So I went to the FBI and I said, "I want to right my wrongs.
I want to tell you guys everything I did."
Andrew was indicted and sentenced to 37 months in prison. He agreed to work with the FBI to go through his past case files.
One case file being Jameel McGee's.
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.
There was a Bible in my desk.
This day, I just said, you know what, I'm going to read the Bible.
My mind just went blank and God stepped in
and He 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.
After serving 3 years of his 10 year sentence, Jameel McGee's case was overturned.
Counselor said to me, "Hey, where would you go if you're released today, tomorrow,
or six months from now?"
I'm like, "Hey, probably to my grandma's house."
He said, "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 the 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.
That of all the guys who I chased around as a police officer,
Jameel was not one of them.
He was never on my target before.
I didn't think of him much after.
I don't think I ever thought about Jameel in prison.
It wasn't until we ran into each other after I got out.
Two years after I get out, I get to meet my son for the very first time,
he wanted to the park this day.
My idea was just to let him run through the park, and I was just standing on the sidewalk,
and then I saw you.
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 going to be a good interaction."
And when I shook your hand, you said, "You remember my name?"
I looked down at my son and said, "Explain to him
why I was missing out on these years of his life."
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.
What was going on in your brain, like, why wouldn't you let me go?
I was waiting on God to give me a clear sign, an answer, or something, of what I should be doing.
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.
God had let me know in that moment, like, "This ain't even your
fight, get out of my way."
and I'm releasing you and walking away.
4 years pass Jameel and Andrew meet again at a Jobs For Life program.
Three weeks into the class, you get to meet your mentor
and Miss P comes to me and says, "Hey, we finally got you a mentor.
We understand that you've 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."
"No way."
And I was like, "You know what, let me pray on that."
"I know, I think God is telling me He wants this to happen."
Princella 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 is Zuki, do you know him?"
I was like, "I don't know, I don't think I know him personally."
You know, I forgot, that's how people call you.
An hour and half later, you come walking in,
and all of a 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."
Then I asked you if we could pray together and you were like, "Yeah,"
and you bowed your head right there, and I was like "All right, cool, we're doing this."
Andrew, 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?
If these things that we're holding on to, trying to fix it,
or trying to make it right,
and all we got to do is just let it go.
But I think there'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.
I am Jameel McGee, a.k.a. Zuki,
and I Am Second.
I'm Andrew Collins, and I Am Second.
Because of forgiveness they now share their story across the country and in their new book "Convicted".
When they aren't traveling together Jameel and Andrew often hang out or take their children out together. They truly love each other and are best friends.