NEW YORK She called police after her boyfriend punched her in her face. She called police again after he punched her in the face with a chair. Officers arrived and, despite obvious injuries (a cut lip and swelling in her eye), they would turn around and leave. Her boyfriend, Rikers Island prison guard, would then flash his badge.
He continued to hit her until Katrina Cooke Brownlee (22 and pregnant) moved out of their Long Island home in Medford with her two children. She hid in a nearby hotel. It was January 1993. She realized that she needed more clothes for her girls after several days. Alex Irvin was her boyfriend and he was there with a gun.
He said, "This is the day that you die, bitch," and he shot straight at her stomach. He fired again, and he did so again. He empty the five-round revolver cylinder and then reloaded it to empty it again.
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Three amazing outcomes were achieved after that bloody day.
One: Katrina survived. Six bullets remained inside Katrina after doctors removed all the bullets that they could. In a wheelchair, she left the hospital several months later. The unborn child died.
Two: She learned how to walk again. And run. When the bullets rained on her left side, it hurt.
Three: Brownlee, who was only ever let down and ignored at all by men with badges, while she stood as evidence of the violence and beatings one had performed, approached an institution that she deeply distrusted, and she stepped in.
Brownlee, now 51 years old, stated that the Police Department had failed him in a recent interview. I wanted to be an excellent cop.
She entered the police academy in 2001. The rest of her 20-year career was filled with promotions to dangerous, busy areas of police work, including undercover work in narcotics stings and narcotics. As a bodyguard for the mayor of New York, she was assigned to the elite executive protection detail.
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Brownlee kept her shooting secret throughout all of those postings. Brownlee was afraid of what her superiors or fellow officers would think about her traumatized injuries and why she joined their ranks.
Brownlee stated that people judge. Perhaps you're crazy. Let me take your gun. Perhaps you have a head case.
She hid her scars under her police uniform at first. Then she covered them under the disguises she used for undercover work. Finally, she covered them with the business suit worn by the mayor's security detail. She said that she wanted to tell me so many times but kept her story close and buried it like the bullets.
In July, she retired as a first-grade police detective. Her story was only told when she finally decided to get rid of those uniforms.
Left for the Dead
Brownlee's early life was already characterized by a string of bad relationships. She met Irvin in late 1980s. When she was 14 years old, she had a girl with another teenager. Brownlee and Irvin were married five years later. They had a daughter together in 1990.
He lived with her in his mother's Brooklyn house before they moved to Medford, Long Island in 1991. He was a good friend at first, she recalls. This changed.
She spoke out about five years of raping, torturing and locking me in closets after leaving the force. Where was she going? It is normal to be abused or battered.
Brownlee became pregnant again in July 1992. She said that he was not having the baby. He smacked me.
She fled and returned only with a bag of clothes. Then, she carried her 3-year-old sleeping child to another room. Irvin appeared behind her and fired when she turned to face him. As she lay dying, she would find out what had happened months later.
Unannounced, a cousin of Irvins entered the house and found himself in midst of bloodshed. A prosecutor later stated that the house looked similar to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. She was picked up by her cousin, taken to his car, and driven to Patchogue. There, she was in a wheelchair. Staff members found her outside and took her inside.
Later that day, Irvins' home was raided by police. It was obvious that there was blood everywhere. No badge would make it go away. He was charged with attempted murder and was immediately arrested. Keri Herzog was a young assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County. To check on the victim, she visited the hospital.
Herzog remembers that she was still covered in tubes. Herzog still remembers that she was covered in tubes.
Brownlee doesn't remember this questioning. Brownlee's first memory is 33 days after the shooting when she awoke in a coma. She dreadfully asked her doctor a question.
He replied, "The baby didn't make it," she added. It was a boy. He lived for just two hours.
It seemed like her life was over, as she knew it. She said that I was paralysed from the waist down. She said that a series of operations followed, including gall bladder, colon, vaginal repair, and bladder surgeries. Partial hysterectomy. Hip.
After being released from the hospital, she was able to go to her only known place: Irvins mother's house. It was still empty. A physical therapist was assigned to her, and vowed that she would get out of the wheelchair. He told her that if she gave him a chance and gave me all of his resources, she would be able to walk again.
Preparations for trial were underway. Irvin called her out of jail.
She said that he told him this was what he wanted her to say. You have already shot yourself ten times.
Brownlee accepted, despite how absurd it sounded. Brownlee feared that Irvin would be released at any moment. She thought, "I have no one." He's going to get out from jail.
She felt powerless at every level. She said that the doctor had told me that I would never be able to walk again. You are in a wheelchair. She remembered thinking that you were paralysed. This is how it will be.
However, she said that God did not have a plan for her. She continued to work with the physical therapist. Brownlee and he had her legs and hips strengthened enough that she could get up from the chair and use a walker.
The walker was soon replaced by a cane. She then put the cane down.
McDonalds bathing
It was 1993 and Irvin's trial was fast approaching. Brownlee was contacted by Herzog, the prosecution, to help him prepare the case. Brownlee was helpful at the hospital but this had changed. She declined to talk about the shooting.
Brownlee also sent a letter explaining that the shooting was an accident she had caused. Herzog was stunned. She said that he had emptied his revolver and then reloaded it.
Herzog called Brownlee again and asked for a meeting. Brownlee declined.
Herzog recalls that she said, "I'm not coming in, and you will disappear, but I won't find you." My blood pressure was increasing and I didn't know how to stop it. I let out a scream and said Katrina I would hunt you down like an animal. It wasn't my proudest moment. It was so loud that my colleagues ran down the hall to get to me.
Brownlee didn't budge. Brownlee's perspective changed when Irvins mother drove her out of her house, where she was in recovery.
She moved into a shelter for homeless people. She said that she would take me to McDonald's for a quick shower and then bathe. The children and me.
Her determination was restored by the hardship. She said, "Once I was homeless, what did I have to lose?" You can kill me. Care?
The trial date was set for April 1994. The jury selection process began and Herzog, the prosecution, was confident that she could get a conviction without Brownlees' cooperation. The medical records would show that the injuries were severe.
Brownlee entered the courtroom as the trial was about to start. Although she did not speak, her measured stride, which was recently returned to her, was testimony.
Herzog stated that nobody was more shocked than I was.
Irvin saw her, too. He entered a guilty plea before opening statements could begin. He was sentenced to between five and 15 years imprisonment. He was denied parole twice during his imprisonment. Commissioners asked him how he could have reloaded the pistol and continued shooting. One asked him, "What the hell is going on in your mind?"
I need to be a cop
She was now ready to move on from the trial. After completing her recovery, she received a surprise in the mail. She had previously taken the written exam to become a New York City traffic agent years earlier. It was all she had ever known until 1997 when she received a letter from New York City inviting her to join their agency.
She began by writing parking tickets, but she soon realized that she wanted to do more. She said, "I need to be a cop." This would require a more detailed application and a physical exam.
One of the questions asked her if she'd ever had surgery. She wrote that she had a gunshot wound. As the day approached, she became more anxious. Her belly was covered with a long scar. There were smaller ones around it. Was it possible that the doctor would question her fitness to serve when he saw her injuries.
She arrived at her police physical and was dressed in a uniform.
She recalled that I was the last. He's on his way. He's going to be disqualified. After enough time, he said, Everyone get dressed and leave.
In 2001, she was promoted to officer after graduating from the police academy. She was then transferred to the narcotics section to work undercover. This involved buying drugs so officers could follow up on and arrest dealers. It was not as easy as it sounds. However, it was her dream job. Her favorite TV show was New York Undercover about secretly identifying detectives.
She made her own persona and used it to act as an armor suit in a world in which women were desperate for drugs. She said that I was a gay woman and a working woman who went to drug purchases wearing a FedEx uniform.
The suspicious timing of her visits and her arrests was noticed by her dealers. They would point out that you had left the police station as soon as your departure was made. I was like, They got you too. You haven't seen me because of that.
Her bosses were very proud of her work. Brownlee excels at infiltrating drug dealers and is creative when given difficult tasks, according to one performance evaluation. Brownlee is passionate about buying and solving cases, even if it means facing dangerous people.
She was consumed by the work. She was actually so consumed by the work that she didn't even think about it when Irvin was freed from prison in 2003 after spending 10 years in prison for attempted murder. This was the end of that part of her life. Since then, he has moved out of state and was unable to be reached for comment.
After a few years, she was again transferred to the vice squad. Her undercover look changed, too. She said, "Now Im sexy and have long hair." She was able to pose as a prostitute at Sutphin Boulevard in Queens, where she met and negotiated with men for $50 or $100.
She said that there are many sick people in the world. Her boss offered her some advice: If you aren't afraid to go out, it is a sign that something is wrong.
She recognized something in the young women who were working on the streets. Many of them were as victims as she was. She could not tell them who she was; it would be a disgrace to her. She was frustrated.
Brownlee stated that 99.9% of them are victims. Brownlee said that they are all victims. Brownlee described a group of young women who were able to relate their stories. When you go out on the streets, you become so traumatized that you end up making friends with dead roaches. It's insane.
It was very stressful. After five years undercover, she was promoted to a more calm post at the police headquarters community affairs office. She saw an opportunity and became a plain-sight police officer.
She founded a program in 2012 with A Rose Is Still a Rose. It was later renamed Young Ladies of Our Future and made it a non-profit. According to the website, the organization's mission is to empower, educate, mentor, support, and inspire at-risk young women. She said that young women will meet weekly at offices in Brownsville and East New York, Brooklyn to learn about everything from bullying to nutrition to gun violence.
In 2013, Brownlee was finally selected to join the executive security detail that surrounds Bill de Blasio (the new mayor) and his family.
She said that she didn't know of any people like me who were on the mayor's detail. It was a majority Caucasian male detail. This was enormous.
She was the mayor's advance officer. I am the one who makes sure that everything is secure and then brings him in.
She said that the two of them had a special bond. He is always with me, wherever I am. If I fall into a ditch, hes going into a ditch. They liked one another. For eight years, I traveled the globe with him.
Brownlee's 20th anniversary with the department was de Blasios last year as mayor. Many officers celebrate this milestone by submitting their retirement papers. She was 50 years old when she decided she was ready to make a change. June 30 was her retirement date. She also shared her secrets that day.
At a last meeting in his office, she sat down at the table with de Blasio and just now it was out. I replied, I was shot ten times. He looked puzzled at me. She repeated her words and said that she was writing a memoir. The title of the manuscript is "And Then Came The Blues."
He said, Youre incredible. You have never shown any signs.
She said to the mayor: You're not supposed to.
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