Back in 2005, an innocent man named Jameel McGee was minding his own business when a police officer showed up and accused him of dealing drugs, then arrested him.
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McGee claimed that he had been framed, and while that was a familiar refrain, it was not often that the arresting officer would actually admit to this being the case, as former Benton Harbor police officer Andrew Collins did.
“I falsified the report,” Collins admitted. “Basically, at the start of that day, I was going to make sure I had another drug arrest.”
“I lost everything,” McGeee said. “My only goal was to seek him when I got home and to hurt him.”
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Collins was eventually caught a served time for a year and a half because of his crimes, but McGee still ended up serving four years for a crime he never committed.
But last year, they both ended up at faith-based employment agency Mosaic and began working at the same cafe. It only took a chance meeting for them to become friends, after an initial moment of forgiveness.
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“I said, ‘Honestly, I have no explanation, all I can do is say I’m sorry,'” Collins explained.
“That was pretty much what I needed to hear,” McGee said.
“And I just started weeping because he doesn’t owe me that. I don’t deserve that,” Collins said.