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Prison to Police Sergeant: Ameer Williams Inspiring Comeback Story · Nightmare Success In and Out

0:01
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:04
Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
0:07
Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
0:11
nightmares that set yourself free.
0:13
We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
0:15
Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
0:20
These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad, there's some
0:24
humor, but hopefully you can come away with a nugget of
0:27
something that'll help you knock down some of the prisons you
0:29
built up in your own mind. All right, welcome back night.
0:36
We're success in Mount. Listeners.
0:37
This is where you come from. What happens when your worst
0:39
year becomes your reality? How do you adapt, survive,
0:41
overcome? Set yourself free, folks.
0:44
Don't forget to follow, subscribe, share.
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Like this thing up. It helps the show.
0:48
So who are we talking to today? Well, I am talking to Amir
0:53
Williams. And if you guys like a comeback
0:55
story, you know those great comeback stories.
0:57
I've got 1. Amir Williams was a guy and I
1:02
before I get started, I don't want to forget this.
1:04
I want to give a shout out to my good friend Charlie Grady who
1:07
connected Amir Williams and me. And for those who follow the the
1:12
game board at home, Charlie Grady was a a guest on this show
1:17
and he is the founder of the Hall of Change in hang time.
1:22
And Amir Williams is one of the great aiders who were in that
1:27
first hall of change. And he's he was in there for a
1:31
reason. He is doing incredible things
1:35
with his life. But before all that happened, he
1:39
did a five year stunt in prison. And you know that sometimes when
1:46
that happens, people have one heck of a time getting back in
1:50
to the real world. And and re entry is really
1:53
tough. And not to say that none of that
1:55
was like everybody else being tough, but Amir figured things
1:59
out. And he he has gone from prison
2:03
to precinct to New Haven police Sergeant.
2:07
And that's something that I think is a first for this show.
2:10
And it's, and not only that, he uses all of his experience of
2:15
how he got his pardon and he's helps over 500 people get their
2:21
pardons and help them get a second chance of a better,
2:24
stronger second chance in their life because he found out how to
2:28
do it and is, is doing what he's doing now because of part of
2:31
what he got with the pardon. So I can't wait to get into all
2:35
that, unpack all that. Before we do, I want to
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3:14
from Nightmare Success sent you. Welcome in.
3:17
Amir Williams, how are you today?
3:19
I'm doing well. How you doing?
3:20
I'm doing good, doing good. So I, I got to tell you, Amira,
3:26
when I, you know, I, I was watching your testimonial that
3:30
you did for the, the great 8 on the Hall of Change.
3:33
And, and it was a really cool thing that happened in that
3:37
interview was, is you're just talking, telling your story,
3:40
talking about, you know, your life.
3:42
And then this change happens. And the edit is, is the next
3:46
thing you see is you're in your police Sergeant uniform and
3:50
you're talking about how you took the second thing of your
3:54
life. And, and, and here you are now.
3:57
And, and I should say that you've got a book coming out.
4:01
I think it's not out yet. Am I right or wrong about that?
4:04
Not yet, I'm OK. It's, it's called Velma's son
4:08
from prison to precinct. So I, I can't wait for that to
4:10
come out 'cause I, I think that's going to be an absolutely
4:14
incredibly interesting story. But Amir, tell us a little bit
4:20
about you. You know, before your nightmare
4:23
happened and getting picked up and, and with your cousin and
4:26
all those things that happened, your life wasn't one where you
4:32
had a single mom, Dad household you, you 22 family household.
4:37
Mom had a good job. Dad had a good I think your mom
4:39
worked at Yale for a number of years.
4:41
Your dad had a good job. Tell us a little bit about Amir
4:45
growing up. So no.
4:47
So initially, no. In the beginning, no.
4:49
My mother, my mother having my mother didn't get the job at
4:52
Yale until a little later on in my life.
4:55
But growing up I did. She did have the job at Yale,
4:58
but initially, no. My mother was single.
5:01
My father was my father. My biological father was
5:04
abusive. My mother left him.
5:06
OK. We were on assistance as far as
5:10
welfare and things of that nature.
5:11
And she didn't end up getting a job at Yale, but she still
5:15
struggled. It was only it was me and me and
5:16
my and my sister. So initially the job and at Yale
5:19
didn't pay that well. So, you know, I decided to make
5:23
decisions that I thought were manly and didn't turn out too
5:26
well. Well.
5:30
You said that that that the the the relationship that your mom
5:36
was in was abusive. How old would you have been when
5:40
you would have been involved and probably seen that type of
5:43
situation and in the house? I was very young.
5:46
I believe my mother left my father when I was three or four
5:50
years, 3 or 4 years old. But initially my father had a
5:54
good Jack worked at Pratt Whitney.
5:56
So they made the airport airplane parts and but he he
6:03
started using drugs and once he started using drugs, he became
6:05
abusive and she and she left. But I have vivid images of even
6:10
that three or four years old of him hitting on her and him
6:12
beating on her. So she just got away from that
6:14
issue, from that situation, and we moved across town to this
6:17
area called Newhallville and, and well, it's the story before
6:25
that too, because then it was with my stepfather.
6:27
My stepfather was a good guy too, but he was an alcoholic.
6:29
So it's rough. So on both sides.
6:34
He was, he was an alcoholic, but he was, he was, he wasn't
6:36
abusive or anything. She just had to get from that.
6:39
And then we moved to New Hallville.
6:41
So it was a bad neighborhood or so-called bad neighborhood in
6:45
New Haven, CT. And that's when me and my cousin
6:48
got close together, about 1213 years old.
6:51
And by the time we got 1718 years old, we started selling
6:55
drugs. So was that like a thing that
6:58
that was when you when you moved and you got into that
7:02
neighborhood, you just started seeing a lot of people that you
7:05
were hanging around that were in that doing and being in that
7:08
life and you saw that as something that could be a way to
7:13
to get money or was it a lifestyle?
7:17
It wasn't. It was I initially in high
7:21
school, I was, I was always considered a smart kid, so.
7:27
I saw that you you got good grades in the school, Yeah.
7:30
Always got good grades, so it really didn't come to until
7:35
after high school. So I was, my mother got me
7:37
through, well, 17 years old, 17 1/2 years old.
7:40
That's when I started selling drugs and it was only.
7:43
It sounds innocent. It sounds stupid.
7:44
I'm not trying to put the blame on him, but my cousin was on the
7:47
bracelet. He got arrested.
7:48
He had to be in, he had to be in the house at 6:00 PM.
7:51
So we had to be in the house at 6:00 PM.
7:53
He was like, can you do this for me?
7:55
And I was like, yeah, I don't care.
7:56
Started doing it with him and then it turns into me being his
7:59
partner. And then we just blew up from
8:01
there. Grew up from there.
8:03
How long did you do that? And and we're in the drug world
8:08
and trade until you got hit. So probably about about 3 or 4
8:15
years, but about 1718 to right before I turned 22.
8:19
So I got arrested. I caught 2 cases back-to-back
8:24
April of 99 and then July of 99. And so I was 21 years old, about
8:32
to turn 21 years old. Or was it 22?
8:34
Was it 121 or 22? And then how did that happen I.
8:37
Was about to turn 22 years old. How did the arrest happen?
8:41
Were you, were you taken by surprise or was it you knew this
8:44
was going down or how did it come about it?
8:47
Happened, it happened. It was out of ordinary.
8:51
It was, it wasn't like I was on the investigation or anything.
8:53
My cousin was already in prison and I was running around selling
8:58
drugs and the first case I caught, I actually got accused.
9:02
I drove by this guy on my motorcycle and he happened right
9:05
after I drove by him. He happened to get shot.
9:07
So the person who called 911 described me as a shooter.
9:12
So I end up getting pulled over by the police and when they
9:15
pulled me over I had drugs on me.
9:16
So that was the first case I caught as far as drugs.
9:19
The second case I caught was I gave my uncle a ride again on
9:26
the motorcycle. I dropped him off and I stopped
9:30
and when I stopped the police got behind me and he got behind
9:33
me. I jumped off the bike and ran
9:35
and they sit the canine on me and I had drugs on me then too.
9:38
So that's how I caught my 2 drug cases as far as when I got my
9:41
time. So I never was on the
9:43
investigation or anything like that.
9:45
It just happened. It happened to be happened right
9:48
wrong place, wrong time and and thank goodness she didn't get
9:54
charged or accused of the shooting of that happened on the
9:58
1st go because a lot of people that I've interviewed have had
10:02
that happen where they've been wrongly accused and serve a lot
10:04
of time on the wrong charge. No, I had nothing to do with the
10:08
shooting at all. I don't even know the guy that
10:09
got shot or the OR the person that did the shooting.
10:12
So I had nothing to do with that.
10:15
So Amir, you get you get picked up.
10:18
Do you how much time goes by between you being arrested to
10:23
did you did you do a a plea deal or did you go to trial?
10:28
Not the plea deal. I I wasn't going to trial.
10:30
I got caught that the right but especially the second time I had
10:33
so much drugs on me. So I took a plea deal.
10:36
It was 15 years since then, after five with three years
10:39
probation. OK, so you go in and you're 22
10:44
years old. Just turned 22.
10:47
And you head into prison, which is an unknown world, even if
10:51
you've heard about it from other people who have been on it.
10:54
How did you, what were you thinking when you were going
10:59
into prison? So when I got when I went to
11:05
prison, I actually bonded out on both cases.
11:08
When I bonded out on the second case, it was July.
11:11
I'm sorry, I remember the date, July 22nd, 1999, I went to court
11:17
and my lawyers like they're going to revoke your bond.
11:19
And I'm like, I'm, I'm like, what they going to they're going
11:22
to revoke your bond. They think you're a flight risk.
11:24
And so that's what ended up happening.
11:25
So I got out of prison. I mean, I bonded out with them
11:29
when when I went back to court, they revoked my bond.
11:32
So I wasn't even prepared to go. They just took it.
11:34
Just all of a sudden we're there.
11:36
Yeah, I was just all all just. Had a lot of preparation to
11:38
that. Not at all.
11:39
So I wasn't prepared at all when I went in.
11:42
And so it was, it was a new world.
11:45
It's terrible in there. That was my first time getting
11:48
in in any type of real trouble, my first time being away from
11:53
home, my first time anything was not to say I wasn't.
11:56
It was a lot of people in there. I knew because I sold drugs, so
11:58
I knew a lot of people on the streets, but I never, I didn't
12:01
know how to cope with or deal with going to prison at all.
12:03
So. So and your and your mom, how
12:06
did how did that all work with your mom?
12:09
Did she know that you were dealing in drugs?
12:11
Was it a surprise? When do you went and got into
12:14
this mess? You know, I I never had that
12:17
conversation with her, but I believe she knew until his dad
12:20
never had a conversation with her.
12:21
But I believe she knew because I wasn't working.
12:24
Yeah, I did what I wanted to do. I went where I wanted to go.
12:27
If she did help anything, I helped her.
12:29
I did things for the house. So I didn't have a job.
12:31
So I think she turned a blind eye and that's just that.
12:38
Walk us into prison. How?
12:39
How did you, at a 22 year age of 22, walk into prison in this
12:44
world that you hadn't been in? I walked in like a baby crying.
12:50
So. I, I, I, people are scared to
12:53
say this, but I tell everybody this story.
12:55
I, I, the first night I was in there I had tears coming to my,
12:58
the food was terrible. I'm in, I was in A10 man cube.
13:01
I wasn't even myself. So I was in A10 man cube.
13:03
It was called S block and Welly Ave. correctional center S
13:06
block, the starting block. So put me in A10 man cube.
13:10
I was on a bump. I remember breakfast was 2
13:13
boiled eggs and toast and I just wanted to go.
13:17
But you know. So like I said, like your story
13:20
says, a nightmare, something that I've never want to
13:23
experience again and hopefully never have to.
13:26
Yeah, I know. I think it's, it is that first
13:28
night. I think for everybody, you know,
13:31
for me, I we, we went through family, we went through a six
13:35
year investigation. And so it was just fight, you
13:38
know, you go to you get up fighting, you go to bed fighting
13:41
and for six years, you know, fighting a case.
13:43
And I remember that night when I was on the top bunk and I was
13:48
looking up and, you know, Leavenworth, the penitentiary
13:52
was all lit up and I was thinking, wow, I'm here, you
13:55
know, after six years of all this, I'm on the top bunk A2,
13:59
you know, and wow, what am I going to do?
14:01
This is and and it for me, you know, it was like the first like
14:06
just huge realization that I wasn't here for like a week or,
14:11
you know, a month or a year. I was, I had a five year
14:14
sentence. So I, I, I really had to kind of
14:16
kind of come to grips with myself that I had to do
14:19
something or feel something that would make me feel more like
14:23
myself. Then I was always afraid of
14:25
falling into the prison world, like I was going to turn into
14:28
prison. Brent, when you were in that
14:30
situation and and you're in that thing that the the pod deal did,
14:38
did you have any strategies of what you thought you were going
14:41
to do or how are you going to do your time?
14:43
No, because I didn't know how much time I was getting.
14:45
I didn't. So when I started, like I said,
14:48
it was I just got thrown in there and I was still going to
14:51
court for both cases. And so I didn't know what the
14:53
plea offer was or anything. It was initially I just was
14:56
hoping that they, I still have hopes of them reducing my bond.
14:59
I didn't have the money. I wasn't out there making any
15:01
more money. So I didn't have the money like
15:02
that and I wasn't. I don't, I try not to ever put
15:06
anything on my mother or anybody like that out there.
15:08
So and my cousin was already in prison, so I, I didn't have a
15:14
clue to what was going on. I was like I said, it was like a
15:16
newborn baby. It's like me walking into a new
15:18
world and listening to people. And you know, you got the
15:21
jailhouse lawyers, they know everything, but they don't know
15:23
shit. But.
15:23
That's right. That's so true.
15:27
And so I was just just going day by day with, with a question
15:32
mark. So I, I didn't, I didn't know
15:33
what was going on, but. How long was it, Amira, until
15:37
you found out that you were going to get the 15 years and
15:39
then the five years that you were going to be doing that?
15:43
You're going to be doing five years and then and doing your
15:46
time that way. How long was that time period
15:48
from that night to when you actually found out what what
15:51
your real deal was? So the I initially didn't want
15:57
to go to trial. So I never forget the, the
15:59
conversation of how my grandfather, I got on the phone
16:03
with him and he was a, a guy from old down South guy country
16:07
guy didn't know too much about court, you know, but he grew up
16:12
in a rough time, Jim Crow and all that stuff.
16:14
So he he said to me, he said, what you going to do?
16:18
So grandpa thinking about going to trial because the way they
16:20
found the drugs on me, especially the second time, it
16:24
was definitely a legal stop. But he said, just do me one, one
16:27
favor. And I said, what's up, grandpa?
16:29
He said don't go to court. And by by that man, he he meant
16:33
don't go to trial and he said don't go to court, just take
16:35
what they're going to give you. And I never forget that
16:37
conversation. And so it probably was about 7
16:40
to 8 months before they offered me the 15 spent after 5.
16:45
Initially it was more more time. I forgot exactly what the offer
16:49
was, but I didn't take that. And that's when they offered the
16:52
15 after 5. So we'll explain that to the
16:56
people down in the Cayman Islands that are listening.
16:58
If you 15 to 5 means that you do the five, but if you get out,
17:02
you get to do the whole rest of the time.
17:04
Yes, Yeah, if you mix. Up So that was a that was a that
17:10
was a final offer. I thought I had a pretty good
17:13
lawyer, but to this day, even though I do what I do as far as
17:17
my profession, I don't have too much faith in the in the system
17:21
when it comes to when they sentence people.
17:23
But I took it. He told me I was the best offer
17:27
he could get for me. I took the offer and then I
17:30
remember that day. So I walked in court.
17:32
He said they're going to give you the 15 out of five, just
17:33
take the deal and then you go from there.
17:35
And I had to do 85% because even though it was a drug charge, the
17:39
officer lied and said I hit him because I got bit up by the K9.
17:43
The K9 bit me up, he lied and said I hit him.
17:46
So I got assaulting a police officer that needed a violent
17:48
crime. So you did 85% and I, I remember
17:54
there was a time and I was watching your testimonial.
17:57
There was a time in that time period that you were in that you
18:04
were like, man, I don't want to be here anymore.
18:06
I, I, I got to figure out something different.
18:08
This isn't good. No, not at all.
18:12
It was just being away from my friend.
18:13
I have two kids at home. My son was three years old when
18:17
I went to prison. My daughter, my son was 3 1/2,
18:20
almost 4. My daughter wasn't wasn't born
18:23
by two different women. She was still in her mother's
18:26
stomach cooking. So I missed her birth.
18:28
I miss almost five years of my son's life, so you know, it was
18:32
a terrible time for me. So when you decided that you
18:39
were going to not have that happen, you know, everybody gets
18:43
close to the door, you got six months or four months to go.
18:46
What were you thinking when you were thinking about freedom?
18:51
I actually thought I was going to have to do the whole 4 1/2
18:53
years before I got pro. So I have a it's weird.
18:58
Have a cousin, younger cousin. He was always in trouble way
19:01
before me. You know, he's two years younger
19:02
than me. He's always in trouble from the
19:04
time he was a teenager and he's not in trouble anymore.
19:07
That's another cousin that's not the one.
19:09
That's. Doing the right.
19:11
I got another cousin, so he used my name.
19:13
The story of connecting the second he used my name one time.
19:15
Amir Williams, my birthday, I don't care.
19:18
My birthday is one of the simplest birthdays ever. 7777.
19:21
So he used my birthday. He got arrested in the New Haven
19:23
Police Department. He used my birthday back in that
19:25
time when they arrested you, you carried that name until you
19:29
finished your sentence. So he he was Amir Williams, AKA
19:32
his real name, but he used birthday 7778.
19:36
So when I was in prison, coming home, I thought I still had more
19:41
time, but I hadn't, I hadn't spoke to the halfway house.
19:44
I hadn't had any. My counselor didn't come talk to
19:46
me anything like that. So I come back, I used to have
19:50
work release in prison. We worked at a concrete place
19:52
called Quick Creek and they paid the minimum, minimum, minimum
19:55
wage. And so when we came back in one
19:57
day, we had this jerk Co Liszewski, I think his name was
20:03
Liszewski. He's a, he's a, he's a jerk.
20:05
And so we can't, I came in and he was like, Williams, when you
20:08
get back there, pack all your stuff up.
20:10
And I was like, for what? So I'm thinking telling me I'm
20:12
going to the hole or something because we had.
20:15
Illegal cable, we had all types of stuff back there.
20:17
So, but maybe from my legal cable, whatever it may be.
20:20
And like for what he said just just don't say anything to me.
20:22
Just pack your stuff up. And so I'm walking and he tapped
20:25
me on the shoulder. He said, you're going to the
20:26
halfway house tomorrow. I'm like, I'm going to the
20:29
halfway house. He's like, yeah.
20:31
So in my head I'm like, OK, so I'm walking to the cottage we
20:36
had back there because we were in the jail.
20:38
So we were separated because of work release.
20:40
I'm like thinking to myself, how am I going to the halfway house?
20:43
I didn't speak to anybody from the halfway house, whatever it
20:45
may be. So the whole night, I'm up, the
20:47
whole night, just as long as life in my life.
20:49
And so the next day comes, they sure come get me.
20:51
Amir Williams. I go to, I hop, I get up.
20:54
Like the halfway house is here to get you.
20:56
Shackle me up, put me in a van, take me from Brooklyn, CT.
20:59
That's where I was at. Ride me back to New Haven, to
21:02
the Roger Sherman house. I get out.
21:04
I guess this is real. I don't know how this is, how
21:06
this is possible. I've never had an interview.
21:08
So I go upstairs. I show my ID, the jail ID, says
21:12
Amir Williams. They take it from me.
21:14
They tell me, they give me my room.
21:15
I go to my room. I sit down and said, we'll come
21:18
do intake or process you in a few minutes.
21:21
They call me back out. They say, all right, Mayor
21:25
Williams, what's going on? What's your birthday?
21:26
It says 7777. So he looks at the thing.
21:32
He says it's not 7778. I said no, 7777.
21:36
So he says, what's your father's name?
21:38
I say Benny, Benny Ellis. He says, what's your, what's
21:43
your grandparents name? So I told my grandfather named
21:45
Dolly Ellis. He said, well, you got the
21:47
grandparents right, but you got the father wrong.
21:49
Your father's not named Woolly. I said, no, that's my uncle.
21:53
He said that's your uncle. He said, yeah.
21:56
He said on here it says it's your father.
21:58
So he looks further on the paper.
22:00
It says Amir Williams, AKA Woolly Miner.
22:04
So the director of the halfway house calls DLC.
22:08
He's like, well, we got the wrong Amir Williams.
22:09
They're supposed to have the other Amir Williams, AKA.
22:12
And so he tells me to go back to the room.
22:16
You may have to go back to prison, may have to switch you
22:17
out. So he calls me back about 15
22:19
minutes later and he says, you know what?
22:22
Since your cousin wants to use his use your name, it benefited
22:24
you, he's got to stay and you're going to stay here.
22:26
So that's how I got to the halfway house.
22:28
Wow, Amir, that's that crazy. I have never heard a story like
22:34
that. So that is crazy.
22:37
So I mean, they could have easily just taken you back and
22:39
and and that's unreal. So.
22:42
OK, so you had no preparation for thinking, hey, I got.
22:49
So how do you deal with that? You're at the halfway house.
22:53
What what? What happens next?
22:54
So nobody knew I was going to the halfway house.
22:57
I didn't call you no. So that so that night I knew I
23:00
was going and now everybody's so happy.
23:02
They call them home. Like I'm going to the halfway
23:03
house. I was like, I'm not calling
23:04
because I don't think I think they messed up.
23:07
So when I get to the halfway house, I call my mother and I
23:10
call my older daughter's mother and I'm like, they're like, how
23:15
you calling straight through? And I'm like, I'm in the halfway
23:16
house and they're like in the halfway house.
23:18
You know, he's on the halfway house.
23:19
I was like, no. So I told him the story and he
23:21
was like, wow. So.
23:23
Amir, how much more time would you have had?
23:26
Probably like another year you had some change it.
23:28
Was well, that's, that's a lot. When you're in prison, this is a
23:30
lot. Especially when you don't know
23:32
you're going humble. It's a blessing, like I said.
23:34
So you, so you finally, everybody gets to know that
23:37
you're out. You are out.
23:39
You're in the halfway house usually, you know, like I, I was
23:44
leading into this question, you know, like people start thinking
23:47
six months out, four months out, you know, like, what am I going
23:49
to do? How am I going to make
23:50
connections? What's re entry going to be like
23:52
that hits you all at once. You like boom.
23:57
So what happened? What happened to your re entry
24:00
in the halfway house and stepping out into the world?
24:02
What, what, what? What did Amir do?
24:05
So at that time you got to just, you got to do at that time you
24:07
had to do 30 days in, you had a program or whatever program they
24:10
gave you. Make sure you go to the
24:11
programs, finish the programs they gave you and then start
24:14
looking for a job. And I happened to find a job at
24:16
a grocery store called expect discounts.
24:18
And I had a buddy that worked there.
24:20
So they were hiring people from the halfway house.
24:23
And so they, they hired me and I got a job there working there.
24:26
And then I just, I did, I finished the halfway house from
24:30
that. It was June of June of I think
24:36
O3. OK.
24:38
And I finished the halfway house in December.
24:41
Then I got off parole the following, the following and
24:45
following June and July in O 4 and I worked, I worked at the
24:51
halfway house and then I found another job for one of the guys
24:53
in the halfway house. It's called Advanced Development
24:55
and Manufacturing, Adam and Guilford, CT that paid pretty
24:59
good. It was paying $1213.00 an hour
25:02
and I was back in 2003, so I had a decent job and I had two jobs.
25:06
I came home with two jobs. Which is unusual and am, am I
25:11
wrong on the fact that you had maybe a hiccup to where you
25:16
thought you might slip back into the drug trade or the streets
25:21
and, and, and you, you kind of felt maybe some heat that and
25:25
you were like, Oh my God, what am I thinking?
25:29
I could, I could serve, you know, ten years of this if I
25:32
don't get my head on straight. Yeah.
25:34
So the job, the job, I'm in Guilford, I end up getting laid
25:41
off from there and then I still had to have the job at the
25:45
expect discount at the grocery store and that wasn't paying
25:47
much. That was probably like 8 bucks
25:50
an hour back then. And I decided to start messing
25:56
around again. It was, it was more out of
25:58
desperation than anything because I was applying for jobs.
26:00
I couldn't get jobs and things of that nature.
26:02
So I had a long criminal record. I had a lot of felonies from
26:09
them. Charges total about 13 felonies.
26:14
And so I started selling drugs again.
26:17
My stepbrother, he approached me.
26:22
He was like what you want to do? I'll do everything while you go
26:24
to work, while you still work. But I end up doing it anyway.
26:27
So the first time I almost got caught again, I was was going to
26:33
New York. I had a buddy that had an old
26:35
school car. It was a 72 Oldsmobile.
26:39
That is old school. And he's always taking a ramp.
26:42
And it was, it was meant and was, but he had a, he had a car
26:45
accident and the headlight was out and the, the driver's side
26:49
front Fender was meant. And we was on the way back from
26:54
New York and got the package that I went to go get and we got
26:57
pulled over by a state trooper. And I was so nervous and so
27:01
scared because like I said, I had the 10 years still hanging
27:03
from the, the 15. And the state trooper actually
27:07
pulled us over because he liked the car.
27:11
He said it was because the headlight, but he still liked
27:13
the car. So the whole conversation, he
27:14
showed him registration, insurance, his license.
27:17
He's like, I really pulled you over because I like the car.
27:18
He just told him about the car, my buddy bullshit.
27:21
And I'm like, yeah, I'm waiting for a part to come from Arizona
27:23
and it's taking a long time. He was like, yes, so they what
27:27
kind of bullshit of the way through that.
27:29
And then the second time I had a a lady friend that I brought
27:34
with me, it was in the same car, but it wasn't it was it was
27:37
fixed this time the headlight was fixed and we were on
27:39
Broadway in New York. I just got the package again and
27:43
we're in the backseat playing like hitting and I've never seen
27:46
anything like this in my life. It was like starts I'm looking
27:48
looking back windows a Durango behind us.
27:51
He takes a magnetic siren and puts it on top of his car.
27:55
Like I see him put on top of the car.
27:56
He pulls us over. When he pulls us over, all four
28:00
of the cops get out. They go to all four doors and
28:03
they got the weapons drawn like what the fuck is going on?
28:05
He's like, I don't know if I can curse up.
28:07
I'm sorry. That's fine.
28:09
It's like, I'm like, what the hell is going on?
28:11
And they like, what are you doing in the back seats?
28:13
Like you're having a domestic. I'm like, what's going on?
28:15
Like I, I know we're playing whatever it may be.
28:17
So license registration, showing license registration.
28:20
At the time, Connecticut had the handwritten insurance card.
28:24
So he used to do the handwritten insurance card sometimes.
28:25
So he gave it to the guy from New York.
28:27
He said this is a bullshit insurance card.
28:31
Then he asked us where we're from.
28:32
My friend happened to be from Woodbridge, CT, which is outside
28:34
of New Haven, a nice little town.
28:38
And he asked me where I was from.
28:39
I said Hamden instead of New Haven because I know once you
28:41
say New Haven, they go crazy. Say certain cities from the from
28:45
Connecticut, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, they know
28:47
those. And then she was visiting.
28:50
She's actually from Connecticut, but she was going to school in
28:52
Virginia at Virginia State and she was visiting financial.
28:55
She told them that. So we got away with that one.
28:57
So I said the stories backwards. But the one on the highway was a
29:01
second time. And when we got back from there,
29:06
I said, this is it. I got rid of what I had and I
29:08
said I'm not never doing that again because I can't afford 10
29:11
years. I got two kids out here now and
29:16
I want to disappoint my mother. My mama's a boy to the heart, so
29:20
I didn't want to disappoint her at all.
29:23
So I just just gave it up. I just went and I gave it up and
29:27
I started looking for work again, started going back to
29:29
school and started putting it together.
29:32
Which you got your associates degree?
29:35
I think you got a master's degree.
29:38
Walk is walk us into Amir when that time period came when you
29:43
started working towards these pardon ideas of getting pardons
29:47
and and how that what that led to.
29:51
So the the pardon idea actually came when I was going to court
29:57
when I had AI had a case in Hammond which went to Meriden
29:59
court. So a Meriden court.
30:02
I had a had a older lady judge and when I got sentenced because
30:05
that's where I got the 15th of New Haven court was more lean on
30:10
me than Meridian court. So when I when I got sentences
30:13
in Meridian court, she gave me 15 spent after 5 and she ran a
30:16
concurrent with New Haven. She said to me, she said this is
30:19
a shame that she said you're so young.
30:21
You're 22 years old or about to be 22 years old and you have
30:27
almost wasted your life with all these charges.
30:30
She said the only way that you can get by this is by getting a
30:35
pardon. At the time, I know what the
30:36
pardon was. So but I always stuck in my
30:38
head. So the whole time in prison, I
30:40
always thought about a part and a part and a part.
30:41
And I did some research on it. And at the time they weren't
30:44
even giving out partners like they're doing now, like they're
30:46
more lean weight, a lot more lenient now.
30:48
And so that's what that's what started.
30:52
So it started before I got to prison.
30:54
And then when I got to prison, I did all the programs I did, I
30:57
did classes and everything. I did college courses.
30:59
I did every program and threw out as I worked.
31:01
I never got in trouble. I never got a ticket in prison
31:03
or anything, never did went to SEG or any of that stuff.
31:07
And then so when I got home, that's what the focus was, the
31:10
parting. So I figured out how to do the
31:12
parting packet when I got home and it was actually it changed
31:19
it two or three times since then.
31:21
It was papered in but they weren't giving them out.
31:24
I actually didn't get a parting for till my 4th time I applied
31:28
so and at the time I got my pardon, I had the longest record
31:32
in Connecticut that they gave somebody a pardon to.
31:35
They surpassed that now. But at that time that was the
31:37
longest. I'm actually friends with the
31:39
lady that gave me a partner. She's a, she's now a family
31:41
court magistrate and she was the pardon cheer person at the time.
31:48
And when I got my pardon, she saw all my work.
31:51
She saw all the fact that I got my associates degree, the fact
31:53
that I had a bachelor's degree and I had just got my, my first
31:56
master's degree. And so when I got the master's
31:59
degree and she saw that on the paperwork, I actually knew
32:03
everything just comes full circle with me.
32:05
I was working with a guy that knew her.
32:07
So he knew I had my partner for us before I did.
32:09
Because at the time, now I want to give you your pardon.
32:14
They give you a pardon and they tell you right at the end of the
32:16
hearing back then you get a pardon and you had to wait like
32:22
two months before they or a month.
32:23
I waited for like a forever. So I got my partner in 12/12/12.
32:27
I didn't get the letter until the end of January and but he
32:30
knew already. But when I got my pardon, he
32:33
said, I talked to my friend. He said you should be all right.
32:37
So when I got and I told him, she said, yeah, she wants to
32:39
come down and meet you because she thinks you're the poster
32:41
board of people that went to prison and change their life
32:43
around all the things that you did with the school, the
32:45
education, get in custody of my daughter and things of that
32:48
nature. Not only that, Amir, I think
32:51
that I don't want to gloss over the fact that you were turned
32:54
down three times. And a lot of people, especially
32:58
in re entry, will easily give up on something when they get
33:01
turned down by a job or whatever the case might be.
33:05
They might be trying to open up a bank, all these different
33:07
things and people just give up. They just they just say that's
33:09
it. You know, I've got this felony.
33:11
I'll never be able to do anything.
33:13
I think it's I think it says a lot by the fact that you kept
33:16
going back to that pardon. You kept going back and
33:18
reapplying, reapplying, replying, and then you get it
33:22
and you make these connections. Does that lead you into
33:27
thinking, are we, because if I remember us talking on the phone
33:32
that that you were at a job fair and I'm not sure that you were
33:35
actually thinking of being a police officer, but it was part
33:38
of the job fair. Am I right about that or were
33:39
you thinking about it? So that was that was, it was for
33:42
the Police Department. So the Waven Waven Police
33:45
Department was having a a Fair Gateway Community College, which
33:50
is downtown New Haven. And they came in and they had a
33:53
packet and on a packet it said something about if you received
33:58
a part and they wouldn't, they wouldn't hold your pass against
34:00
you. And so I met one of the officers
34:03
there, Officer Dobson, and she was part of the one of the
34:07
people that was running the job fair.
34:09
And I met her. I didn't make a connection with
34:12
her that day, but they were just talking about becoming a cop.
34:15
They want a New Haven residents, people from New Haven, people
34:17
from the city, people of color. I fit the bill, but I also, I
34:20
didn't think I fit the bill because of my long criminal
34:22
record. When I look at people, when they
34:24
say the police department's going to hire people that have a
34:27
record, I'm thinking maybe a petty larceny, maybe something
34:30
happened when you're 18 years old, you never did it again.
34:31
Maybe got caught marijuana or something like that.
34:33
Nothing like me. And believe me, I wasn't the 1st
34:36
pick. But you know, like I said, I
34:38
made a connection with Officer Dobson and end up, she end up,
34:41
you know, kind of, I ain't going to say she made sure I was OK.
34:46
She made sure they treated me fairly.
34:48
I'm, I put it like that. And so that's how, that's,
34:50
that's how that got, I made a connection with her.
34:52
They had a program at the New Haven Police Department.
34:56
When they trained you, we had to run.
34:58
They trained you, prepared you for the test.
34:59
They prepared you for the psychological test, prepared you
35:02
for the written test or try to prepare you.
35:04
And I end up going all the way through.
35:06
And so when I got through and it was time to start hiring, I let
35:08
her, I let her know throughout the process that, listen, I got
35:12
a pardon. I don't know if it's going to
35:13
fly with you guys or not. She asked me what it was.
35:15
I told her what it was. And she was like, I believe in
35:18
you. I know that I feel like you've
35:19
changed your life and I that you're going to do that.
35:21
You're going to do good things. And so she became my background
35:24
investigator. Here I am.
35:28
Wow. It's, it's quite a story, Amir,
35:32
because not only did you put yourself in the position to make
35:38
these connections, you, you did the things that were needed to
35:41
be done for those people who were trying to help you, make it
35:45
easier for them to help you, because you were doing all the
35:48
right things for them to say. I need to take a look at this
35:51
guy. I, I need to, I need to, I, I
35:54
might, it might make me feel better if I give this guy a shot
35:57
because he's doing all the right things to make this work.
36:00
But you know the other thing? Well, I'll, I'll take a break
36:04
there 'cause I, I want to, when I come back, I want to talk
36:06
about what happens on the next step.
36:09
What happens when a guy like Amir goes into a Police
36:12
Department? Because, you know, there's
36:14
people that say, yes, that's fantastic.
36:16
And then there's guys that say, man, he doesn't belong in here.
36:19
Nobody can ever change that, that, you know, all it's doing
36:23
is waiting this down. When we get back.
36:25
I want to talk about that 'cause I think it's an important part
36:27
to, to add on to what we're talking about here.
36:30
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37:43
So Amir, so you get through, you know, you've got somebody who
37:48
believes in you and and you know, that is a huge thing.
37:53
Now you're in and now you're you're going to become a police
37:56
officer. How do you walk through that
37:59
world? You've walked through the prison
38:01
world. Now you're walking through a
38:03
police precinct. What?
38:06
How do you prepare for that? And what are you thinking?
38:10
No, I didn't. I didn't.
38:11
I didn't prepare for it at all. I didn't know what I was walking
38:13
into. So my idea when I walked through
38:15
the to the through the Police Department was that I was going
38:18
to figure out about my past. I got a job where I could make
38:21
decent money. It wasn't even about really
38:24
being a police officer. It's about just trying to be
38:26
responsible and take care of my kids and being a present father
38:30
and being a present, a consistent man.
38:32
It wasn't about, oh, I'm a cop or trying to, I don't know,
38:37
trying to prove something to somebody.
38:38
I just wanted to work and I knew.
38:39
I didn't even know what effect I was going to have on the Police
38:41
Department. So when I walked through there,
38:43
it was nothing like, again, like a newborn baby.
38:48
I'm walking through there, I have nobody to talk.
38:49
Nobody has my experience. Nobody can say, oh, I did this
38:52
and that's what you should do. That's what you shouldn't do.
38:54
I didn't have that. So I walked in.
38:57
I just wanted to work, work overtime, make some money.
39:00
It was at the time on to this day, it's still the best job
39:03
I've ever had. And that's what I wanted to do.
39:06
So it got kind of rough while I was in the field training.
39:12
So I article my cousin had just went to prison.
39:16
He's still in prison Now he's doing, he's down 15 on 25 fed
39:20
time. He's in upstate New York right
39:23
now. And he had just got sentenced.
39:26
He just got caught in a raid. They called him with about 30
39:31
other people and it was actually called the Jackson Drug
39:35
Organization. And so that article came out
39:39
when he got sentenced. They interviewed me after the
39:41
article. And this is right before I
39:44
became a cop. They interviewed me.
39:45
I became a cop in 2014. He got actually four years
39:51
later. But then when I got on and my
39:53
name started floating on the Police Department, Of course
39:54
everybody wants to Google because Google never forgets.
39:58
Always alive. Google will never forget.
40:01
So that article came up and when he got sentenced to the 25 years
40:04
I was there and afterwards they interviewed me.
40:06
They asked me what type of person he was.
40:08
And it was like, man, I said, you may, you may know how to be
40:10
a muscle. I got to know him personally.
40:11
Like you can know some of the baddest people in the world
40:14
personally. And to them and to you, they're
40:16
not bad people. He sold drugs, you know, in the
40:19
past I sold drugs. He wasn't a violent person.
40:21
And they asked me what type of person.
40:23
I said he's a father. My answer was he's a father.
40:25
He's a, you know, he's a son. He tries to do his best to make
40:28
sure he takes care of his family.
40:29
He just happened to sell drugs and he's here.
40:32
That article made it to the, to the, to the Police Department.
40:34
They pass out that article around and then I had an article
40:37
that's still floating around. So the Hartford Courant, they
40:41
passed that around when I got arrested in Hamden, they passed
40:44
that around and then all the rumors and all this other stuff.
40:47
Well, he's a drug dealer. He's this, he's that.
40:49
So they almost scared me away. They almost ran me away.
40:52
So I didn't go to work. I didn't sign up for that.
40:55
I came here to go to work. You guys want to talk about
40:57
something that happened years ago?
40:59
I'm not really interested in that and I don't feel like I
41:02
should have to come and deal with that.
41:03
But I had some people on the Police Department that actually
41:05
like me and they love me. And it was like, just don't let
41:07
them run you off like that. Like it passes your past.
41:09
Most of that stuff that you did was before they even got on.
41:13
No, they were young. You're older.
41:14
Like I got to became a police officer 3738 years old.
41:19
You got guys talking about me that's in their 20s that were
41:21
babies when I got when I got in school.
41:23
I'm a whole different person now.
41:25
So, you know, I just put my head down and the next thing that
41:29
happened was I'm in field training with an officer and
41:33
we're at the front desk. I got to log something in the
41:35
front desk or something, evidence or something.
41:38
And a guy comes down. He doesn't know who I am.
41:40
Another officer comes down and he's like, did you hear about
41:42
this new kid Williams? And I'm standing right there
41:45
almost next to him. This guy, you know, he's he's a
41:48
former drug dealer. He's on here.
41:49
He shouldn't be here. And it's not.
41:51
And so my FT OS pointing at me like he's right there.
41:54
See him pointing at me, trying to give him like the head now,
41:56
like shut the like, shut the hell up.
41:57
And so that kind of weighed on me.
42:01
And then I had a classmate one day, but that went to the
42:04
Academy with me. I'm coming in to go to work to
42:06
go change it to my uniform. And he pulls me aside.
42:09
It's like a mirror. So what's going to you got in
42:11
trouble before I said, yeah, so we get this from he said,
42:13
they're passing an article around about you.
42:15
You know, I'm just letting you know because I don't, I'm not
42:18
passing judgment on you, just letting you know what's going
42:20
on. So then the story just kept
42:21
going around, going around, going around.
42:24
And like I said, I was ready to go.
42:26
Like people talk me out of it. And so somebody actually a cop
42:31
that was there was like, didn't you get a pardon?
42:34
And I was like, yeah, she said, you know how to do pardons.
42:35
I said, not so much. I did mine and I'm trying to
42:38
help my cousin with his. And she was like, since they
42:41
running their mouth so much about you, why don't you just
42:43
help people do the partings? And I'm like, no, I'm not going
42:46
to do that. I don't do that.
42:47
So I didn't help my cousin get his.
42:48
He's now fireman. And then I helped.
42:51
Yeah, we talked about him. Amir.
42:53
I'd like to talk to him. Yeah.
42:55
He's a fireman. He's a.
42:57
Fireman. And then I had a cousin that got
43:00
killed. His mother needed a pardon and
43:03
because something happened in like 83, she was working or
43:06
something and she happened to get begin welfare hit with
43:09
welfare fraud and then she defended herself in a domestic
43:12
violence and she got her apartment.
43:14
So after I got those two, I was like, you know what, maybe
43:16
that's a good idea. So I started and I didn't have a
43:18
name. Like you see, my thing was Megan
43:20
Inc in my shirt. Megan Inc making making
43:23
everybody great again. Not to get confusing Mega, but
43:26
mega making making everybody great again.
43:29
So, and that's when it came out, I just like, I just started
43:31
helping people do pardons. And now like I said, to this
43:33
date, it's almost 700 now that, that that number was from 2023,
43:38
but it's almost 700 people I helped with partners.
43:40
But and then it started from then though, but it started
43:42
because of the Police Department.
43:43
Yeah. Being negative towards me and
43:46
I'm just like, all I'm trying to do is help people as police, as
43:48
a police officer, what I think we should be doing instead of
43:52
just walking in people's houses telling them, oh, you can be
43:54
better, you can do better. It should help them be better.
43:57
And even though it's my side business, people look at me and
44:01
they're like, this guy went to prison, now he's at the police.
44:03
He's a police officer, he's a police Sergeant, and he helps
44:05
get back and that's that, you know?
44:08
I got to, I got to tell you, Amir, I, I love that.
44:11
And when Charlie Grady and I were talking about it, you know,
44:17
you've changed 700 people's lives, you know, and, and those
44:20
are people that probably had no idea how to ever go after a
44:24
pardon. And, and most and most people
44:28
don't because they think it's, it can never happen and to
44:32
affect that many people's lives because you know how to do it.
44:35
And the other thing is, is that I'm curious now.
44:39
You know, you've been a police officer, you've been a police
44:42
Sergeant and you didn't give, you didn't give in to those guys
44:47
that were, were talking the smack.
44:52
What's life like now when you're in this?
44:56
Police precinct. So is is isn't.
45:01
I have more people that like me, that don't like me.
45:05
It's almost the same though. People have their biases and
45:10
there's nothing I can do about it.
45:11
I had a Sergeant, he's retired now, Sergeant Shaffi Abdusibar.
45:17
He pulled me aside when I first got the job.
45:18
He's my mentor. I only have one mentor since
45:20
I've been, he's gone. So since then, I had nobody to
45:23
really teach me to tell me anything.
45:25
So he pulled me aside one day. He said, I don't know if you're
45:27
smart, I don't know if you're lucky, he said, but I know one
45:30
thing, you got the law on your side, he said.
45:32
So if the law says that you can legally and morally say that
45:35
you've never been arrested, that you don't have a record, then
45:38
they got to deal with it. It doesn't matter what they
45:40
think or what they feel. But I'm going to tell you this,
45:43
they try to make me, they still, some people still try to make me
45:45
uncomfortable. I'm not talking bad about the
45:47
department. People are people.
45:48
It's like any other job. You got people that's going to
45:50
be for you, people that's going to be against you no matter what
45:52
you do. You know, you got some people
45:53
there that don't like me doing partners.
45:55
They don't think that people should should get partners.
45:58
You know, I actually have 1. I actually have one officer
46:02
telling me that another officer told her that a mirror should be
46:05
able to do whatever he wants to do will become a police officer.
46:08
He shouldn't be able to be a police officer.
46:10
You know, that's too bad that they think like that.
46:12
You know, I'm, I'm, I'm a forgiving person.
46:15
They said mirror because Atlanta's second chance, even
46:18
though I'm born here, why can't I have a second chance?
46:20
And help other people. And what I would do want to say
46:23
I don't want to over talk, but it's more than 700 people
46:26
because you have to look at the people that you're helping.
46:29
So if I help you, you may have kids, you may have.
46:34
There's a multiple. It's so it's, it's, it blows up.
46:37
It's, it's squared or whatever you want to say.
46:39
So I'm helping more than that because I'm helping because even
46:42
me, like I got two older kids, they're doing great.
46:44
My son's, my son's got a house. He got, he's engaged to get
46:47
married. My daughter's down South, she's
46:50
married. So I raised great kids because
46:52
of the fact that, you know, I changed my life and I was able
46:55
to show them a little bit different and show them a little
46:56
bit better. So it, it affects not only me,
46:59
but it affects the people that are attached to me.
47:01
And so, and that's what happens, like the people when I'm, when I
47:03
started walking the beat people like, what the hell?
47:06
How the hell did you become a cop?
47:09
I tell them about the pardon process.
47:11
A lot of them, some of them were, were in prison with me and
47:13
a lot of people that I was in prison when I helped get
47:15
pardons. And so, you know, it's, it's a
47:18
great thing, like being a part of the help, being a part of the
47:21
Police Department, but also helping the people in the
47:23
community really get back on their feet and they believe in
47:26
you in a different way. You're not just there.
47:27
I actually had one guy, I arrested him on a domestic.
47:32
I helped him get his pardon. And he tells people that story
47:34
at times that this guy arrested me when he was a rookie and he
47:36
helped me get a pardon five years later.
47:37
So, you know, it's a it's a blessing and.
47:39
It all comes around, yeah. I've helped law enforcement get
47:44
pardons, man. I've helped law enforcement
47:47
relatives get pardons. I hope a multitude of people get
47:51
pardons. But again, some people won't,
47:54
won't, won't respect that. And they just, you know, it is.
47:56
What it is, I mean, if you think about it, a mirror, that's life.
47:59
You know, the and it also kind of serves the point too, that
48:03
even if you get the pardon, you still deal with the felony of
48:08
people bringing something up. The thing that the thing that
48:10
you have to do is and, and one thing that you know, I guess
48:15
because I'm in a, an unusual position because I talked to
48:17
people for the last Four Seasons on this show, is that regardless
48:25
of whatever happened, going to prison, your re entry is, is
48:30
that it's a lifetime thing that you have to learn to deal with
48:33
when you're out. You've got to not give up.
48:38
And you know, I, I think there's A and I, we talk about this a
48:42
lot on this show, but it's kind of two paths to go on.
48:45
The thing, you know, you can be, you can pick the path of
48:48
victimhood and you know, it was all unfair.
48:51
I'll never be what I wanted to be.
48:54
I'll never get to where I want to go, whatever that is that
48:56
that that victim mentality or the survivor mentality of I got
49:02
to deal with it. How do I deal with it?
49:04
How can I step forward? Who do I need to ask to get help
49:07
to be able to get to the next step?
49:09
And whatever that is, it might be hard, but I'm going to go
49:12
ahead and, and grit my teeth through it to get to it.
49:15
And I think that's, you know, this thing, this show goes into
49:20
1100 prisons on the Adova platform, the state prisons.
49:22
And I think what's really cool about them hearing your story
49:26
is, is that there's people out here that, yes, it's hard and
49:30
you can give up and go back in. But there was something in you
49:34
that decided that that wasn't what you were going to do.
49:37
You decided that you had a fork in the road.
49:40
And I'm going to do whatever I've got to do.
49:44
However hard it's going to be, I'm just going to grit it out.
49:47
And you did it. I mean, you and it wasn't easy.
49:50
There was nothing. It's probably today.
49:52
It's not easy, but everything that you're doing is making a
49:56
difference. And, and that's, and I, I love
50:01
talking to somebody who's around the table, who's a police
50:03
officer that sees both sides of the world, because how you
50:08
handle that when you are in a situation might be different
50:12
than how somebody else sees a situation of what that person is
50:15
or who that person is. You know, the, the, they're not
50:18
like cattle, They're not a number, they're a person.
50:20
What is what happens with that person and what happens to them
50:23
next is something that can change their life for the good
50:26
or the bad. But I love, I love everything
50:29
that you're doing. I think it's, I think it's
50:30
inspiring and I think it goes to show people that they can be
50:36
done. They can be done if you just
50:38
don't, don't stop. And, and each time you've talked
50:40
about this on this show, you almost, you almost stopped, you
50:44
know, but you, you got to, you got in the police precinct.
50:48
I thought, I'm not going to put up with this.
50:50
I wanted to work. But you, you still gritted it
50:52
out. That's what I love about it.
50:55
So so the the thing with me is my mother always told me that no
51:02
means yes somewhere else or. No, that's right.
51:04
I just haven't heard enough yet. If somebody tells you no, then
51:09
it's not like, oh, I'm just going to give up and quit.
51:11
We're going to sit here. We're going to, we're going to
51:12
figure it out some way somehow. So that's just all it is.
51:15
That's what's in me. I don't like, I hate the word
51:17
no, I hate the word you can't do this, you can't do that because
51:20
I don't like using excuses for anything.
51:22
So, you know, people use a lot of excuses for a lot of reasons.
51:24
I got a record. Oh, they might be racist or
51:27
because of this, because of that, whatever it is, you can
51:31
work through it and you can figure it out.
51:32
That's how it look. And maybe I did get lucky.
51:34
Maybe. God bless me whatever it may.
51:36
Be, or maybe you put yourself in the position to get lucky.
51:38
You know that that's one of the things I, I, I see people who
51:42
get to where they are and somebody will say, well, he was
51:44
lucky. You know, he's, you know, he
51:48
either got lucky, inherited or he stole it.
51:50
Well, the thing of it is, is that people who get to where
51:54
they're at, people assume those things and because they didn't
51:59
do it. But the real thing is, is that
52:02
you, you just kept stepping and gritting it and not giving into
52:06
it. And that's where you get luck
52:08
because that's where you find opportunities is when you don't
52:11
stop. But I'm, I'm curious because
52:15
you've lived such a a different journey.
52:20
What do you think's your biggest take away through all of it for
52:23
these guys listening in there and and women?
52:28
Again, just to never give up, follow, I don't know if this was
52:30
my dream, but follow your passion, follow your heart and
52:33
just go for what you're going to go for.
52:34
Because a lot of people going to always say, you know, you might
52:38
have the perfect resume and you might be the perfect person.
52:39
Somebody might find a reason to tell you no.
52:41
I just say, I'm just going to figure it out.
52:43
Or if you tell me no or not. And I'm going to stop when I
52:45
want to stop, not when you want me to stop.
52:47
So this Police Department won't be my last stop.
52:50
I'm going to continue to do good things and just follow your
52:53
passion and follow your drive. That's just that.
52:56
Everything could be against you, and I'm not.
52:59
I'm not a religious person. As long as God is for you,
53:03
that's just what it is. That's just how I look at it.
53:06
So that's about it. I love that.
53:08
That's a great take away. I knew you'd have a great take
53:10
away. I'm here.
53:12
And if anybody, let's see is are you on?
53:17
If somebody wants to get in touch with you on this pardon
53:21
situation, how do they do that? My number is all over this state
53:25
and multiple states. I've helped people in different
53:28
states that have never met me but they have received my number
53:30
whether it's online. My number is 203-500-3428.
53:35
If you want to get in, contact me about a pardon and
53:39
Connecticut, Virginia, as I hope, still records in New York.
53:43
And not it's mega, right? And Mega.
53:46
Making everybody great again. Making everybody great again.
53:48
I love it. I do federal partners too, so
53:52
that's the status I don't. I love it.
53:55
I love it, absolutely love it. Amir talking about gratitude, I
53:59
want to thank Homestead Financial Home Mortgage, letting
54:02
me use this podcast room and all the fancy stuff in here.
54:05
If you've got home mortgage needs, Greg Aftiev is your guy.
54:08
He knows it all. If you're looking for a book out
54:11
there, I've got 1 before Amir's comes out, Nightmare success.
54:17
Check it out, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
54:20
If you want to know anything about me, go to
54:23
brentcassidy.com. I spell it wrong.
54:25
I spell it with ATY, not a DY. And I use as I used to say to my
54:30
people when I was writing my emails back and forth from
54:32
Leavenworth. Stay strong.
54:34
I'll do the same. Amir Williams, thank you so
54:37
much, man. Love your story.
54:41
Nightmare success in and out.