Daylan Mclee Saves Police Officer From Burning Despite History With Police

Daylan McLee(left) and Officer Jay Hanley(right)

CarDaylan Mclee saves officer Jay Hanley despite the history with police

Daylan McLee was at a family Father’s Day cookout when he looked outside and saw the police officer pinned to the ground by his cruiser following the crash.

“I know this man is my brother through Christ, and I couldn’t leave him behind,” McLee said. “There were people outside screaming. We felt it in the house. It was like a jolt.”

Bystanders say in the moment, McLee had Herculean strength, dragging the police officer from the car before it caught fire.

McLee says he had one thought. “I haven’t had the best past with law enforcement, just to know there are still good people out there,” McLee said.

Officer Jay Hanley of the Uniontown Police Department was in the mangled car and is expected to make a full recovery. Hanley’s family and the city say they’re grateful and credit McLee with saving the police officer’s life.

McLee was shot at by a state trooper and arrested in 2016, spending a year in jail before his charges were dropped. Troopers were called to a disturbance at the Dunbar Township American Legion that day. An ongoing lawsuit filed by McLee said he was not involved in the altercation and disarmed a gunman before police arrived at the scene, while troopers said at the time they arrived to see McLee with the gun.

“To be shot at is dramatic, and then being there in jail when you know you’re innocent is a little depressing,” McLee said.

He said that interaction was not on his mind when the officer crashed.

“Good is good. Bad is bad. You can’t cast judgment on everyone. You can’t watch someone burn. You’ve got to leave those shots up to God,” he said.

While he said he was not judging Hanley by his interaction with another officer, he hopes that his experience will teach others not to paint Black men with broad strokes.

“I want people to not lose sight of humanity. I want people to elevate their confidence in Black men. I want people to recognize that we’re people, and things can be fixed differently,” he said.

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