A Family Speaks At Their Fallen Hero's Funeral: Colorado Deputy Micah Flick

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Connecting changes everything. I'm Katja Adler, host of The Global Story. Over the last 25 years, I've covered conflicts in the Middle East, political and economic crises in Europe, drug cartels in Mexico. Now I'm covering the stories behind the news all over the world in conversation with those who break it. Join me Monday to Friday to find out what's happening, why, and what it all means.

Follow The Global Story from the BBC wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, but nothing's more important than telling the stories of our first responders, our men and women in uniform who serve us here in this country and abroad as police officers and in the military. And we especially pay tribute to those who've paid the highest price, who've given their lives to service. And all week long, it's National Police Week, and we're honoring those men and women who gave their lives to protect ours. Today, we want to remember the life and death of Detective Micah Flick. On Monday, February 5th, 2018, Detective Flick was shot and killed while conducting an auto theft investigation in Colorado Springs. Today, we bring you clips from Detective Flick's funeral featuring his brother-in-law Chris and widow Rachel.

My name is Chris Brown. I'm Micah's brother-in-law. I'm here to tell you about Micah as a family man, his humor and his quirks. So I'm going to share a couple stories with you.

Well, I knew he's loved pop music, but this last Super Bowl Sunday, we were gathered at the Flick house, and we were celebrating with the Zynins, and I had to bring an extra TV over. So I was in the room, and I was bent over like this, plugging in some cables, and Micah was standing behind me. And the next thing I hear while I'm bent over is, can't keep my hands to myself, no matter how hard I'm trying to. And I turn around to him, and I said, Micah, why are you seeing this right now? And he said, you were bent over, and I couldn't help myself.

It was a nice view. The last year, really, he started getting serious about his fitness, really serious. And his partner, I come to find out, really gave him a hard time about the fact that he was eating Chipotle burritos every day. Now, every cop in here loves a good Chipotle burrito, but it was getting a little out of control. Am I right, Trey?

Getting a little out of control. So Trey gave him a hard time, and he realized that he needed to get his body back in condition so that he could better serve the community. And he did that. But what most of you don't know is when he would come home from a workout, no matter who was there from the family, the next thing he would say is, I worked out real hard. You want to smell me? Are you kidding me, Micah?

Come on. When he gave his life on Monday, he was in the best shape of his life. He was. Micah is not a victim. Because of his sacrifice, he is a victor.

Because of Christ, he is victorious in his death. Micah, our many talks about God and our family and our profession are going to stick with me till the day that you greet me at the gates of heaven. I promise to you that I will walk by Rachel and I will provide her with all the love and all the support she deserves from her brother. I promise to you that I will teach your kids to love the Lord. I will teach them of your sacrifice, your integrity, and your character. I will love your kids unconditionally as if they are my own. I love you with all my heart. You are my hero, and we have the watch.

And lastly, love always wins. So first of all, I just want to thank you so much for coming in the snow today. But Micah and I love the snow. And we have loved skiing and snowboarding as a family. And any time there was enough snow, Micah was well known to be making very intricate snow forts with the kids. So today feels really perfect to be honoring Micah on a day that there is snow.

And so thank you for doing that. We teased at home that Micah had no game. None whatsoever. Many, many gifts, but no game. And he told us that we met at the Briargate YMCA and one night he told me he wanted to talk to me and I was like, oh, does that mean, you know, I've been dating for a couple weeks. And he, when we get in the car, and he said, I want you to be my girl. That was how he asked me out.

Like, to have like a, you know, we were going steady, kind of relationship. And so if you can imagine all of his eloquence and professionalism at work, none of that transferred over. Micah loved to sing. He didn't remember the words of the songs. And he didn't know he didn't know the words, though. Like, he thought that what he was singing were the words.

And so it's our first year married and, you know, we're getting ready for our family festivities and he's in there ironing his pants and getting ready. And I'm in the bathroom doing my makeup and I hear, a child, a child dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite. And I was like, there's no kid with a tail in that song, babe. And he had no idea. He was like, what? Because he was just singing, singing, singing.

And that was like on the regular. Like, I don't think there was a single song that he actually knew the words to, but that didn't stop him. Another thing that he loved to do that I felt privileged to, I guess I should say privileged, I wish that he had shared that silly side with more people, but I'm so privileged that he shared it with me. But Micah loved to dance. And in the same line as his ability to sing, it was, you know, comparable. But it was very sincere and often, you know, we'd be cooking in the kitchen and listening to some music and he'd be, you know, showing me his latest moves. And I loved him so very much. I love him now and I'm so proud of him and this opportunity to honor him because, you know, we knew Micah as our husband and father and his faithfulness. But, you know, at his core, Micah was a hero and he was a man of excellence and integrity and he did everything with excellence. And, you know, I would watch him make this transition every morning from husband and father to his officer self, right? And so some days he'd be putting on a suit and some days he'd be getting into his khakis and his boots and then some days he would be getting into his street clothes with his tennis shoes so that he could go undercover, you know, and choosing shirts that were two and three sizes too big so he could hide his vest and his holster.

And when he was doing that, he was giving me, you know, kind of the rundown, like, this is our latest suspect and here's kind of what we're thinking. And, you know, I know the wives and the husbands of the officers in this can relate when you kind of start to go, like, oh, I'm not really liking where this story about work is going. And I would say to him, not infrequently, babe, don't be a hero. Do your job and do it well but don't be a hero.

But here's the problem. Here's the problem with Micah is that he was a hero. He is a hero and he couldn't help it.

He couldn't help it. On Monday at about four o'clock, he and his fellow officers were preparing for a routine op, something they do all the time, highly skilled people, very prepared and came into an altercation with the suspect. And the suspect opened fire and Micah literally used his body as a shield and put himself between his killer and his fellow officers.

And I don't know how you get much more heroic than that. His fellow officers on that op said, Rachel, I think we'd be doing multiple funerals if he hadn't given his life. And it's hard. I want to be jealous and I want to have him, but I'm so proud of him. I'm so proud of a man so worthy of honor. I know that you are hurting and I love you. I see it in your faces. I see the pain that you carry because of who Micah is and because what he represents.

And I know that your wives and husbands are hurting because it feels too close. And I know, I know that there are so many people in here who get that and you are good men and you are good women. You are worthy warriors and you are doing everything that you can to uphold the law with truth and justice. And I see that and I affirm you.

So I want to say to you, uphold the authority of your badge, not because you can, but as a sacrifice of love for your communities, for your agencies and for your nation. We love you. We love you.

And what words we just heard, words any of us would want to hear at our own funeral. Detective Flick's bride, I love him. I'm so proud of him. At his core, he was a hero. He was a man of integrity and excellence.

And he used his body as a shield. I am so proud of a man so worthy of honor. And my goodness, you could hear the joy in her voice remembering how he loved to sing and didn't remember the words. We heard the joy in the brother-in-law's voice too, Chris. When he gave his life, he was in the best shape of his life. He wasn't a victim. He was a victor.

Love always wins, Chris said. Detective Micah Flick's story, Police Week, here on Our American Story. I'm Katja Adler, host of The Global Story. Over the last 25 years, I've covered conflicts in the Middle East, political and economic crises in Europe, drug cartels in Mexico. Now I'm covering the stories behind the news all over the world in conversation with those who break it. Join me Monday to Friday to find out what's happening, why and what it all means. Follow The Global Story from the BBC wherever you listen to podcasts.

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