NBC host Megyn Kelly on Tuesday featured a story about how a black man forgave a crooked police officer for wrongly sending him to jail.
While working at the Benton Harbor Police Department in 2003, Andrew Collins began falsifying warrants and police reports. By 2006, Collins had mistakenly accused Jameel McGee of dealing drugs.
McGee was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession after Collins tailored a police report to falsely state the falsely suspected man was in possession of drugs.
Years later, in 2011, the two men made amends and wrote a book together, titled, Convicted: A Crooked Cop, An Innocent Man And An Unlikely Journey of Forgiveness.
Kelly noted that McGee had been sentenced to prison for 10 years "and then it's like a miracle because, three years in, you find out the cop who is responsible for you being there was himself arrested."
Collins told Kelly that he was "called to" reconcile with McGee after he met him in a park by coincidence.
"How did you get past the point of 'Oh, no,' to now they call each other brothers?" Kelly asked McGee.
For his part, McGee suggested that God had brought the two men together: "I know it wasn't my doing."
"It was the Lord," Kelly insisted.
"It took years to get to this point," McGee noted.
Collins said that he had also been able to forgive himself after years of being a dirty cop.
"Because I can't walk through what God has for me if I'm going to keep myself in a prison of my past," Collins opined. "And we also realized that God saved this story for a very unique time in our country. You know, you see a black man who was innocent, completely innocent, framed by a white police officer."
Kelly asked McGee: "When you forgave him, how did it change you on the inside?"
"I became me again," McGee replied. "Because I was so caught up in the bitterness and the angriness. You know, I wasn't myself."
"Wow, good for you," Kelly remarked, concluding the segment.
Watch the video below from NBC.
