Uniontown, Pennsylvania resident and father of three Daylan McLee, 31, has like many brothers and sisters of color, good reasons to not trust the police.
Has many good reasons to hate them.
From being harassed walking down the street, from being pulled over as soon as he left his driveway….because he is a black man.
In 2016, Daylan was picking up his sister at a Dunbar Township American Legion when a white gunman started waving a gun around.
Daylan disarmed the gunman, and when police arrived, they saw a black man with a gun.
And they shot at him.
Twice.
Thankfully missing him.
Though witnesses said otherwise, and videotape ultimately proving it was bogus, a cop said that Daylan pointed the gun at him….and he was arrested and spent a year in jail, before being acquitted by a jury, and set free with all charges dropped.
No apology.
“To be shot at is dramatic, and then being there in jail when you know you’re innocent is a little depressing.”
So here we are in 2020, and Daylan is at his father’s house for a Father’s Day celebration near Fayette Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, when they heard a “big boom and people screaming” and felt the two-vehicle accident right outside the home.
“We felt it in the house. It was like a jolt”
Daylan ran outside and saw a police car, mangled.
And on fire.
A frantic Capt. David Rutter was there, trying in vain to get Officer Jay Hanley out, but the door wouldn’t budge.
And then the neighbors started yelling, “It’s on fire! It’s gonna blow!”
As reported by ABC news….
McLee said he could smell the fumes and feel the heat -- and that's when the front of the car became "engulfed in flames."
Daylan told the Captain, “Don’t worry.
I’m not going to let him die.”
And then Daylan did what he had to do.
"I don't know where I mustered the strength," said Daylan. "My heart was beating, I was scared to death thinking we were gonna blow up. But something in me wouldn't let me leave him.
I believe God took over then. Next thing I know, I was ripping the door open and pulled him out, and took him farther across the street.”
From People…
He wasn’t thinking about the police brutality protests that have gripped the nation, or even the year he spent in jail following a wrongful arrest.
What McLee, 31, did see was a person who needed help.
“There is value in every human life. We are all children of God and I can’t imagine just watching anyone burn,” he told the Associated Press. “No matter what other people have done to me, or other officers, I thought, ‘This guy deserves to make it home safely to his family.’”
Mayor Bill Gerke, Police Chief Jason Cox, local preachers, town leaders and the town board declared June 21 as “Daylan McLee Day.”
And after they thanked him…
….they apologised to him.
“You didn’t see a police officer, nor did you see a white man, but you saw a life in danger, and you were willing to put your own life at risk in order to save another. You, Daylan, chose love that day.”
Said Derrick Snyder, Daylan’s dad, “Showed his true character, he showed he’s a true man.
He loves people, he has heart, he believes in humanity. He believes in change.”
Said Daylan…
“Good is good. Bad is bad. You can’t cast judgment on everyone. You can’t watch someone burn. You’ve got to leave those shots up to God.
I just think this is a lesson that no matter what we're going through with the police brutality or with the people brutality on police, whichever way it goes, this is the way things should be handled and this is the love we should give and help our community as civilians.
I want people to start to look at everybody as Americans and not, 'He's White, he's Black, he's Asian.' We're people ….and when we start realising that, things should get better.”
There is a short video that i had difficulty uploading, but it can be found here….
….abcnews.go.com/...and is worth your effort.
“I want people to not lose sight of humanity. I want people to elevate their confidence in Black men. I want people to recognize that we’re people, and things can be fixed differently.”