Crooked Cop Frames Black Man For Dealing Drugs — Now The Two Are Best Friends
With so many news reports about white police officers committing injustices against black individuals, it seems impossible that a story of police corruption would have a happy ending for both the officer and the victim. But somehow, that’s exactly what happened between Officer Andrew Collins and Jameel McGee, the man he framed for drug dealing.
According to CBS News, Andrew Collins was a crooked cop from Benton Harbor, Michigan, who arrested Jameel McGee for a crime he didn’t commit. In the process of framing McGee, Collins falsified police reports, committed theft, and planted drugs to incriminate an innocent man. The officer later admitted to the entire scheme, claiming that it was simply motivated by a desire to have another drug bust on his record.
“I falsified the report,” said Andrew Collins. “Basically, at the start of that day, I was going to make sure I had another drug arrest.”
Crooked cop pairs up with man he framed: Jameel McGee and former police officer Andrew Collins’ lives became i… https://t.co/RtszCemLrz
— zayn (@zaynmalwik) April 17, 2016
And that’s exactly what he did. Jameel McGee declared his innocence, but nobody believed him. According to the Sentencing Project, studies show that the American criminal justice system tends to discriminate against minority males like Jameel McGee, especially for drug or property crimes.
And so Jameel McGee went to prison for dealing drugs, simply because a dirty cop wanted him to. He spent four years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
“I lost everything,” said Jameel McGee. “My only goal was to seek him when I got home and to hurt him.”
Fortunately, Officer Andrew Collins was eventually exposed for framing McGee. He was charged with stealing, falsifying reports, and planting drugs. Collins spent 18 months in prison. His victim was promptly exonerated, but not before losing four years of his life.
This unlikely twist of fate could have resulted in disaster, especially if Jameel McGee decided to get revenge. According to WNDU, it almost went down that way.
“He came up to me, shook my hand and said, ‘Do you remember who I am?’ ” said Collins. “And I shook his hand and I said, ‘I do.’… The first thought in my mind is, this is about to get bad.”
“At that time, in my head, I’m thinking, hit him! Hit him! Hit him!” said McGee.
But instead, the two reconciled their differences and Officer Collins apologized.
“I said, ‘Honestly, I have no explanation, all I can do is say I’m sorry,’ ” said Andrew.
And according to McGee, “That was pretty much what I needed to hear.”
According to the Huffington Post, Andrew Collins acknowledges that he was a crooked cop to the highest degree, and makes no excuses for his behavior while on the force.
“I took money from people. I took money from the city that I worked for. I was the lowest of low. In my mind now, as I look back, I was as low as you can get as a police officer.”
Not only did McGee forgive Collins, the two became best friends. Sharing their Christian faith, the two have devoted their lives to kindness and service. The friends now work together giving presentations about the importance of forgiveness, using their story as a an example of the power of redemption.
The two grew so close that, at one point, Jameel McGee even admitted that he loved his buddy Andrew.
“And I just started weeping because he doesn’t owe me that. I don’t deserve that,” said Collins.
McGee stated that he doesn’t forgive Andrew for his own sake, “but for our sake.”
Collins agrees with the sentiment.
“If you’re holding something against somebody, let go of the bitterness because it’s like drinking poison and hoping it’s hurting them.”
You can watch more of the story of Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins in the video below.
[Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images]
