Botham Jean’s brother gets ethical courage award for forgiving, hugging Amber Guyger
The brother of a man killed by a Dallas police officer accepted an ethical courage award Tuesday from a law enforcement group, but he told police officials it had been a struggle.
Brandt Jean, the younger brother of Botham Jean, said he was honored to receive the 2019 Ethical Courage Award from the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration in Plano.
But he said, “I struggled to accept this award from this agency. I’m well aware that this agency is responsible for training of officers in leadership positions around the country. I have come to believe lack of training caused Amber Guyger to murder my brother.”
Brandt Jean, 18, received the award in recognition of the empathy he showed by forgiving Guyger at her sentencing hearing in October. At Tuesday’s ceremony, he said he wanted training to be applied all the time because citizens put their trust in officers every day.
“I want you all to know that I am not a threat, that young black males are not inherently dangerous or criminal,” Brandt Jean said from the podium at the ceremony.
“Most importantly, I ask that you remember my brother, my example of ethical leadership, a young black male that was perceived as a threat by one of your own,” he continued. “And when you remember him, I want you to ask yourself what are you doing to ensure that there will be no other families like mine, no other little brothers that have to model ethical leadership in forgiveness of a cop whose lack of training and discipline caused them to carelessly take the life of another.”
“I don’t want police officers to continue doing this,” Brandt Jean said after the award ceremony. “I think you can see it’s not healthy especially for the black community, black males specifically. We don’t want this to happen again.”
A jury sentenced Guyger to 10 years in prison on a murder conviction for shooting her neighbor Botham Jean, a 26-year-old black man, in his apartment.
On Sept. 6, 2018, Guyger, who is white, entered Jean’s apartment, mistaking it for her own, and believed he was an intruder, she testified.
She had just finished working a shift for the Dallas Police Department and was still in uniform when she shot Jean with her service weapon. The department fired her after the shooting.
After Tuesday’s award ceremony, other members of the Jean family echoed Brandt Jean’s words.
“It’s time someone speaks out,” said Allison Jean, mother of Botham and Brandt Jean. “We cannot continue to exercise all that grace and mercy and nothing else comes to us.”
The Jean family referred to Dallas police continuing an internal investigation of the department following revelations of possible misconduct during Guyger’s trial, but said they have seen no results.
“The family, no one in Dallas has heard one single word about this investigation,” said Daryl Washington of Dallas, an attorney representing the Jean family. “And these are some of the issues that the family has been concerned with that we have these cases. Problems are uncovered, but simply swept under the rug.”
‘Brandt Jean represents the best in us’
The long and emotional embrace between Brandt Jean and Amber Guyger at her sentencing hearing is a scene that captured the hearts of millions.
Jean asked Judge Tammy Kemp if he could hug Guyger.
Guyger had just been sentenced, and Brandt Jean had given his victim statement, saying her forgave her and didn’t wish anything bad for her.
No one had seen that kind of expression of forgiveness in recent memory in a court in this country.
“There was a roomful of chiefs at that time and there was not a dry eye in sight,” Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown said before the Tuesday morning award ceremony. “Then he (Brandt Jean) began to speak and as he began to speak, one of the chiefs said, ‘I think this young man just saved our city.’ We all nodded in agreement.”
Brown said Brandt Jean taught everyone a lesson.
“He taught us a lesson how a mistake can be made and we can move on,” Brown said. “We don’t have to set the city on fire to move on.”
For that reason, Brandt Jean received the Ethical Courage Award from the ILEA, which is based in Plano.
“Each year, we present the Ethical Courage Award to recognize an individual or organization for outstanding ethics and integrity,” said Gregory Smith, director of ILEA, in a statement. “Brandt Jean represents the best in us. Despite an unimaginable loss, he saw the humanity in the person responsible for his brother’s death. He saw her pain and regret, and had the ability to show empathy, caring and forgiveness.”
Brandt Jean was joined at the award ceremony by his mother, father and sister, who came from their home in St. Lucia. The ceremony took place during ILEA’s Contemporary Issues and Ethics Conference. About 50 police officials from throughout Texas are enrolled in the course and were on hand for the ceremony.
‘I forgive you’
At the end of the trial, Brandt Jean told Guyger that he forgave her, and asked to give her a hug after reciting his victim impact statement before the court.
The judge said yes, and Guyger rushed into Brandt Jean’s arms, sobbing as she embraced him for about a minute.
“I don’t want to say twice or for the hundredth time how much you’ve taken from us,” Brandt Jean said in his victim statement. “I think you know that. I hope you go to God with all the guilt, all the bad things that you may have done in the past. If you truly are sorry, I can speak for myself, I forgive you. I know if you go to God and ask Him, he will forgive you.”
“I can’t think of an act that was more courageous,” Smith said of Brandt Jean’s actions. “That one act did much to help the Dallas community heal.”
Judge Kemp also hugged Guyger and gave her a Bible.
ILEA is a division of the Center for American and International Law, a nonprofit educational organization that works to improve the quality of justice throughout the U.S. and the world, according to a news release. ILEA provides courses, seminars and workshops to prepare law enforcement officials for today’s challenging management and ethical issues, the release said.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 10:24 AM.
