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

On this episode of Our American Stories, on February 5, 2018, Colorado Deputy Micah Flick was killed in the line of duty while responding to a call in Colorado Springs. His death was one of many law enforcement line-of-duty deaths that year, and it left a family, a department, and a community grieving the loss of a young officer who had dedicated his life to public service.

Our American Stories remembers Deputy Flick through the words spoken at his funeral. His widow and brother-in-law reflect on the life he lived, the man they knew, and the moments that made him more than a badge and a uniform.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
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 the uniform who serve us here in this
country and abroad. And we especially pay tribute to those
who've paid the highest price, who've given their lives to service.
Today we want to remember the life and death of

(00:30):
Detective Micah Flick. On Monday, February fifth, twenty eighteen, 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.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
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 quirk. 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
designings 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

(01:11):
standing behind me. And the next thing I hear while
I'm bent over is can't keep my hands to him myself,
no matter how hot I'm trying to. And I turned
around to him and I said.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Michael, why are you seeing this right now?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
And he said, you were bent over and I couldn't
help myself.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
It was a nice view.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
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 lot of control. Am I right, Trey
getting a little out of control. So Trey gave a

(01:55):
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 is there from the family,
the next thing he would say is I worked out
real hard. You want to smell me?

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Micah? Come on.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
When he gave his life on Monday, he was in
the best.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Shape of his life he was.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Mikah 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.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
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

(03:01):
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.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
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 anytime there was enough snow,
Micah was well known to be making very intricate snow
forts with the kids. So today feels really perfect to

(03:43):
be honoring Micah on a day that there's snow and
so thank you for doing that. We tease at home
that Micah had no game, none whatsoever. Many many gifts,
but no game, and he told that. You know, we
met at the Brier Gate, YMCA, and one night he
told me he wanted to talk to me, and I
was like, oh, it's not mean. You know, I've been

(04:04):
dating for a couple of weeks, and I'm 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 like to have like a you know,
we're going steady kind of relationship. And so if you
can imagine all of his eloquence and professionalism at work,

(04:26):
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, so like he thought
that what he was singing were the words. And so
it's our first uh, you're married, and you know, we're

(04:47):
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 tale as big
as a cod and I was like, there's no kid
with a tale in that song, babe, And he had

(05:10):
no idea. He was like what because he was just singing, singing, singing,
and that 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.

(05:30):
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 Mikeahl
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

(05:52):
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,

(06:16):
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 office her self. Right.
And so some days he'd be putting on a suit,

(06:38):
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

(06:59):
the rundown. 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, and this can
relate when you kind of start to go like, oh,
not really liking where this story about work is going.
And I would say to him, not infrequently, babe, don't

(07:21):
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

(07:46):
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 open fire and Micah literally use his body as

(08:06):
a shield and put himself between his killer and his
fellow officers. And I don't know how you get much
more heroic than.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
That's his his his fellow officers on that op said Rachel,
I think we'd be doing multiple funerals if he hadn't
given his life.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
And it's hard. I want to be jealous and I
want to have him, but I'm 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

(08:59):
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

(09:22):
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.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
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,

(09:55):
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

(10:17):
story here on our American Story