EL PASO COUNTY – February 5th, 2018: Everything changed, in just a matter of seconds.
“My daughter called and said that Micah had been shot and they didn’t think he had made it. So I tore out to the hospital and found that to be true,” said Micah’s father, Tim, with tears in his eyes.
A year later, the pain still feels raw.
“It’s new for me, so it hasn’t gotten easier yet.”
And not all memories that resurface are happy ones.
“I’m starting to relive a lot of the very traumatic and shocking events of that day. I find myself just crying a lot and thinking about Micah a lot,” Flick’s mother, Chenoa, told News5 on Sunday.
But good memories come to mind, too, amidst the tragedy.
“The very first one I think of is the night he died, and the people that lined the roads. That still gets to me. That’s just more than impressive,” said Tim Flick.
In the last year, Micah’s family says they’ve been touched by the outpouring of support from complete strangers–including one man Micah arrested.
“He said that Micah treated him with such dignity and told him he was a better man than what he was doing,” said Chenoa Flick. “And he said that it impacted him–forever, he’ll be impacted by Micah’s words,” Flick added.
She says it’s one of the many testaments to the type of man–and deputy–Micah was.
“Micah’s legacy is one of righteousness, it’s one of justice.”
And it’s one the family hopes to carry on.
“We’re determined as a family and community to see things change and be better and that we will not have to continue suffering this repeatedly across the nation,” said Tim Flick.
But they’re seeking help from the community to keep Micah’s spirit alive.
“If you see them, pray for them,” said Chenoa. “Stand up and be a voice for them if necessary. Find ways in your own heart that means something to you to get involved in the community that would help promote peace and safety and well being.”
Chenoa and the other women in the Flick family now wear a daily reminder of that sentiment, in the form of a custom-made blue heart necklace.
“And it’s to carry Micah’s heart with us, wherever we go.”
It symbolizes what Tim and Chenoa always knew–that their son is a hero.
“I tell him all the time, ‘Micah, you outdid us all,'” said Chenoa, smiling. “None of us are going to match the life and the legacy of Micah–and we’re all very proud to be his parents and his family.”
