FORT MYERS, Fla. — This is typically not how most victims' family members would approach their loved ones killer. Amber Guyger is a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing Botham Jean, claims she mistakenly walked into his apartment and mistook him for an intruder.
The brother of the victim, expressed forgiveness asking the judge if he could give Guyger a hug and stated he didn't want to see her serve jail time.
The judge and other family members are seen embracing Guyger, many of course would not react this way, but Yaro Garcia a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University counseling department shares her expertise on what may have caused Jeans’ brother to chose forgiveness over resentment.
“To reach a point where he was able to go up and give this person a hug, a person goes through a transformation in their minds that is usually a very long and difficult transformation”, Dr. Garcia said.
Dr. Garcia explained what she thinks led to his reaction.
“I think many times what would lead to to something like this is for someone to understand in their minds is what they want to do with what has happened”, Dr. Garcia said.
Dr. Garcia also says this is not to disregard that at some point he might have been upset or angry, but she tells us what practices he may have used that led to this type of reaction.
“To do this we know now from research people have to practice a very different sense and level of emotional understanding an an emotional process that then can lead to him being able to do this,” Dr. Garcia said.
She then classified his reaction as a behavior and explains her thoughts on his decision making.
“This decision that he made, he must have had some pretty tough things to get through, to see him doing this I think is very powerful and at the same time is very healthy,” Dr. Garcia said.
Finally when asked her reaction to the video this is what she said
“ I think that this is a situation where someone did the unexpected, the expected would have been for him to be angry and upset and resentful towards this person, and he did the unexpected and that is very powerful, I cannot say that enough, Dr. Garcia said.
Jean's brother did the unexpected, and showed Americans that forgiveness is the way he and his family are dealing with this unimaginable tragedy.
