NYPD Detective Katrina Brownlee, shot multiple times by an ex with a badge, worked to change the system that she says let her down: “I wanted to be a good cop”

[This story originally aired on Feb. 26, 2022.]

She calls it the “blue wall of silence.” Each time Katrina Cooke Brownlee known as 911 after her correction officer fiancé beat her, she says the police walked away after seeing his defend. As she stocks with “48 Hours” and “CBS Saturday Morning” co-host Michelle Miller,  she took issues into her personal palms and joined the NYPD to change the system from inside. 

KATRINA’S STORY

Katrina Brownlee: When I used to be in Vice as a undercover, I spent roughly … 18 months strolling the streets of Queens doing prostitution. … The best distinction was once that I used to be operating undercover and this was once their exact existence. But we had a lot of equivalent tales. … To pay attention their tales and no longer ready to communicate to them about my tale and the way I survived — it was once heartbreaking a lot of the times.

Katrina Brownlee: My identify is Katrina Brownlee. And when I used to be 22 years previous, I lived with my ex-fiancé in a area of horror.

Katrina Brownlee: I do not take note no longer having a black eye. … Whether it would been the proper one or the left one. … it was once a busted lip (sighs). It was once at all times one thing. … that’s why sun shades become a signature for me.

Katrina Brownlee: I known as the police on him a number of times.

Katrina Brownlee: He was once a New York City correction officer.

Katrina Brownlee: And each time … He would flash that badge. And each time he flashed that badge, they’d stroll away.

Katrina Brownlee: That badge was once a lot more vital than my existence.

Keri Herzog: She were given to the level the place she feared for her protection and the protection of her youngsters, and that’s when she determined not more.

Keri Herzog: But when the determination was once made to go away, the possibility issue for Katrina went via the roof.

Keri Herzog: My identify is Keri Herzog. In January of 1993, I used to be an assistant district lawyer.

Keri Herzog: I don’t believe she in any respect may have foreseen what was once going to occur to her when she got here via that door

JANUARY 9, 1993 | 11:30 A.M.

Katrina Brownlee: He opened the door and he simply had, like, a bizarre glance on his face. It was once atypical. … And … he pointed a gun to me and stated, “this is the day you die, bitch,” and he shot me in my abdomen. And then he shot me once more. And — (cries).

Keri Herzog: He emptied the gun after the first 5 … reloaded and proceeded to shoot her once more 5 extra times.

Keri Herzog: Each time he would say to Katrina, “are you ready to die, Katrina?” Bang. “Is this the day you’re going to die, Katrina?” … Bang. “You know you deserve this, Katrina.” Bang.

Keri Herzog: This was once a guy on a undertaking. And he was once armed and fatal.

Keri Herzog: This may have simply been a murder. But on account of Katrina’s will to reside and can to live on, it wasn’t.

Katrina Brownlee: God had … a complete other plan for me.

Katrina Brownlee: My tale begins from a very darkish position, and it turns into a tale of grace, a tale of affection and a tale of hope.

Michelle Miller: Why did you wish to have to develop into a cop?

Katrina Brownlee: I wanted to develop into a good cop.

Michelle Miller: There’s a distinction?

Katrina Brownlee: Hmm, yeah. … a good cop has empathy, a good cop cares about folks that they’ve to offer protection to and feature to serve.

Katrina Brownlee: I used to be a nice cop.

“THIS MAN TORTURED ME”

Assistant DA Keri Herzog won’t ever disregard opening the case record.

Keri Herzog: This is the {photograph} that says struggling to me.

Keri Herzog: This displays a trail of blood via the lounge and main into the adjoining room.

Keri Herzog: It actually took my breath away.

Keri rushed to the extensive care unit at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital on Long Island once she realized the sufferer was once nonetheless alive.

Keri Herzog: There was once a horror display unfolding proper earlier than my eyes. The very first thing that that got here to my head is how did this lady even live on?

In the afternoon of January 9, 1993, a automotive got here screeching up to Brookhaven’s emergency room front. The motive force hurriedly put a lady in a wheelchair and driven her in the door, then sped off. 

That lady was once Katrina Cooke Brownlee.  Barely mindful and riddled with bullets, the 22-year-old mom of 2 one way or the other controlled to inform government who did this to her — and the place he lived.

Lead detective Raymond Blasko raced to the area the place a guy frivolously opened the door and stated, “I was expecting you.” It was once Katrina’s ex-fiancé, Alex Irvin.

Raymond Blasko: I proceeded to arrest him at that level … The crime scene indicated a violent, brutal assault and that the sufferer all over it was once shifting round from room to room …  making an attempt to escape all over the assault.

Raymond Blasko: The flooring of the toilet. There’s a lot of blood on the entirety in the toilet. That displays intensive bleeding.

Raymond Blasko: Because of the blood loss. … I didn’t imagine she would live on.

Neither did the younger assistant DA. Keri took a demise declaration from Katrina at the health facility to use as proof for a grand jury.

Keri Herzog: Her voice was once simply above a whisper … every breath took a specific amount of work on her phase. But she was once ready to do what we wanted to have her do. I did not suppose I’d ever see her once more.

But Keri did not know simply who she was once dealing with. Katrina were beating the odds maximum of her existence.

Katrina was once a suffering 18-year-old unmarried mother residing in the Brevoort Projects in Brooklyn when she met the guy she idea would get her the area with a white wooden fence she’d at all times dreamed of — a correction officer on New York’s infamous Rikers Island. It was once Alex Irvin.

Katrina Brownlee: So, when I am getting into this courting with this individual, it is a manner out.

Michelle Miller: It’s a manner out.

Katrina Brownlee: I used to be in survival mode … And he had a automotive. … wasn’t used to using round in a fancy automotive. He was once a correction officer.

Michelle Miller: He had a activity.

Katrina Brownlee: He had a — a profession. A gun. So, to me, it was once like, OK, my guy were given a gun, he were given a good activity. I’m from the initiatives and take a look at me.

Michelle Miller: You idea you would escaped?

Katrina Brownlee: Correct. Right. That’s what I’m considering like, I’m profitable. When in reality I used to be shedding.

Katrina says he confirmed his violent mood nearly instantly.

Katrina Brownlee (strolling with Miller outdoor the Brevoort Projects): This is the place it all started right here. Out in the ones streets. Yeah.

Michelle Miller: He would beat you in the boulevard?

Katrina Brownlee: Oh, yeah.

Katrina knew she must finish it however says her grandmother – the best grownup in her existence she depended on – satisfied her to keep.   

Katrina Brownlee: My grandmother stated to me, you already know, this guy has a activity and … he may give for you, and you have got a daughter and he is prepared to take for your daughter and to care for you and I believe that that is one thing you must check out to imagine. So, when your grandmother tells you that, then you definately suppose, smartly, perhaps — you already know what? Maybe I must do that.

Michelle Miller: This is understanding that he had bodily assaulted you?

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah.

Michelle Miller: How do you spot that now?

Katrina Brownlee: Was the worst recommendation that I may have ever gotten.

They quickly had a child – a woman – Katrina’s 2nd daughter. But, Katrina says, it did not forestall the beatings.

Michelle Miller: What would spark his anger?

Katrina Brownlee: Maybe it was once simply a unhealthy day at Rikers Island. Maybe I did not need to have intercourse with him. Maybe the child was once crying. Maybe I had on one thing he did not like to see me in.

Michelle Miller: He was once that abusive?

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah, it was once that abusive.

Katrina says she known as 911 a number of times.

Katrina Brownlee: Every time that I known as the police on him, they both would come and … let us know to paintings it out or … he would have a separate dialog both outdoor or in a room with them and they’d stroll away.

She known as it “the blue wall of silence.” The minute they noticed his badge, she says, they left. After a whilst, Katrina says she stopped calling. 

Katrina Brownlee: I had no appreciate for law enforcement officials. I had no appreciate for them in any respect.

In 1992, Alex Irvin moved Katrina and the two women from Brooklyn to a small area in Medford, Long Island. But, she says, the abuse persevered and best were given worse. Finally, after 5 years of having overwhelmed black and blue, Katrina stated sufficient.  

Katrina Brownlee: I used to be pregnant, and I stated to myself, I’m no longer bringing every other kid into this poisonous, violent courting with this guy and that I’m going to save my cash, get some power from someplace one way or the other and get out of this courting. And that’s what I did.

Katrina and her daughters moved to a native motel.  But after a month, she ran out of cash. Desperate, she known as Alex Irvin. Katrina says he was once like a other individual or even presented to assist her get again on her toes.

Katrina Brownlee: We talked and had been pleasant with one every other, one thing that I had by no means skilled with him. Ever.

Michelle Miller: You had been hopeful.

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah. And I did not suppose he was once suave sufficient to, like, check out to set me up.

On January 9, Katrina says she walked directly into a lure. She left her older daughter with a neighbor and went with her more youthful daughter to Irvin’s area. This is what she informed us came about subsequent. A caution: chances are you’ll to find it irritating.  

Katrina Brownlee: He opened the door and he simply had, like, a bizarre glance on his face. It was once atypical … I went to position my youngest daughter in her mattress as a result of she was once asleep. And once I got here out … he shot me in my abdomen. And then he shot me once more.

Katrina Brownlee: I fell again on our sofa, and I seemed down. And my abdomen had flattened. And I wasn’t, like, bleeding. … and I stated to him, I’m like, “Why am I not bleeding?” And I take note him announcing, “Shut up.” And I take note making an attempt to rise up and move slowly. And he shot me in my arm right here [touches her left arm].

Katrina Brownlee (in tears): I take note selecting up the telephone and … making an attempt to name 911. … The telephone traces had been lower.

Michelle Miller: You’re in the lounge.

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah, crawling on the flooring like a canine … I take note I seemed up to him and he took his foot and he kicked me in my face. … this guy tortured me.  “He pointed a gun to me and said, ‘This is the day you die, bitch,’ and he shot me in my stomach. And then he shot me again.”

Katrina Brownlee: Oh, my God. He tortured me.

A KNOCK ON THE DOOR

Alex Irvin did not simply need Katrina useless, says Keri Herzog. He wanted her to endure.

Keri Herzog: This was once an offended, offended guy. … You can nearly pay attention the defendant announcing, It ain’t over … ’til I say it is over.

Keri Herzog: He was once mocking her as he was once firing on her … Is this the bullet that’s going to do it, Katrina?

And he was once in no hurry, says Katrina. When she may just not move slowly, he put her in the mattress and coated her gunshot wounds with Band-Aids. At one level, he carried her to the toilet, leaving in the back of a blood-stained blueprint of the assault.

Katrina Brownlee: This did not occur, like, inside, like, 20 mins or 30. This was once like a lengthy time period that he is torturing me and taking pictures me.

Over the process an hour-and-a-half, the correction officer emptied his carrier revolver two times at the pregnant mom of 2.   

Katrina Brownlee: And in the long run, he shot me 10 times.

Alex Irvin had deliberate for the entirety, says Katrina: the locked doorways and home windows, the lower telephone line. Everything however a knock on the door.

Keri Herzog: As Katrina lay bleeding on the flooring …

Keri Herzog: There was once an sudden seek advice from by … a circle of relatives pal of Katrina’s fiancé.

Keri Herzog: And upon coming into the house, he checked out one thing which is able to best be described as one thing out of the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

According to the pal’s remark to police, Alex Irvin informed him, he had shot Katrina, and that he flipped out.

Irvin then led his younger pal – best 20 at the time — to the toilet. Katrina was once mendacity face down on the toilet flooring.

Panicked, the younger guy picked her up and carried her to the automotive. Irvin helped him put Katrina in the again seat. The two males headed to the health facility, with the pal using.  

Keri Herzog: The whole manner, Katrina was once out and in of awareness and he was once begging her to dangle on, that they had been shut to getting assist: “Don’t go, Katrina. Don’t go.”

It was once the younger guy who put Katrina in the wheelchair that day — her wounds nonetheless coated with Band-Aids.  

Michelle Miller: If he hadn’t come by that area –

Katrina Brownlee: Oh, I would not be speaking to you. I’d no longer be speaking to you.

Katrina was once rushed into surgical operation once she were given to the health facility after the assault. Multiple operations adopted in the days forward, however medical doctors had been not able to take away six of the bullets that had entered her frame, says Keri.

Keri Herzog: The placement elimination may have been extra bad to her than leaving the bullets in position.

After days of drifting out and in of awareness, Katrina after all aroused from sleep.

Katrina Brownlee: The very first thing I wanted to know: “Where was my baby that I was having? Where were my children?” That was once the very first thing I stated.

Keri Herzog: There she was once having been brutalized and her first fear was once for her youngsters. … It made me need to cry. It makes me need to cry presently.

Katrina was once informed her two daughters had been protected and staying with a relative. Sadly, Katrina says, the child she was once wearing — a boy — did not make it.

Keri Herzog: Most of the accidents had been concentrated between her chest and her pelvis … and it become obvious that long run youngsters had been — weren’t going to be in the playing cards for Katrina.

That wasn’t all, says Keri.

Keri Herzog: She was once very restricted in her mobility. There had been issues that she would possibly no longer be ready to stroll once more.

Katrina recalls the day the physician delivered the grim news.

Katrina Brownlee: I stated, “What? When you say that … I’m not going to walk again and never have a normal life, like, what does that mean?” And he stated, “You know, you — you’re going to be confined to a wheelchair and you’ll have people that have to take care of you.” And then I stated to him, “I don’t have anybody to take care of me. I’m homeless. I don’t have a place to live.” I stated I did not have a position to reside earlier than I got here right here [cries].

Michelle Miller: And you might be considering, “What am I going to do?” Was it concern, desperation at your wit’s finish or all of that wrapped up into one?

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah, I imply … Now I’m in point of fact all by myself. I in point of fact am all-time low. I’m at the lowest position that I believe a human being may just be in at that level … Your son is murdered. You can not care for your youngsters. You have nowhere to reside. You haven’t any circle of relatives. It does not get no worse than that. 

Alex Irvin’s mom let Katrina transfer into her area in Brooklyn, unoccupied at the time. Katrina had around-the-clock care and day by day classes with a speech and bodily therapist, however, deeply depressed, she refused to paintings at her remedy. 

Keri Herzog: Katrina fell into a hollow that was once so deep and so extensive that she could not see backside. And she could not see facet to facet.

Then at some point her bodily therapist gave her hope that she would absolutely recuperate.

Katrina Brownlee: He stated, “I believe something tells me that you’re going to walk again” … and I have no idea what it was once that day gave me the will, gave me the hope that it will be executed. And … I began from the wheelchair, then I went to the walker after which I went to a cane after which I began to stroll. So that was once a procedure.

Katrina faithful her whole being to appearing the medical doctors she may just get well. 

Michelle Miller: So, what had been the issues they stated you could not do?

Katrina Brownlee: I wasn’t going to stroll once more. … I wasn’t going to have a standard existence once more.

Michelle Miller: So, you went —  test.

Katrina Brownlee: Right. It was once like test …

Michelle Miller: Check, test.

Katrina Brownlee: Check, test, test, test, test (laughs).

She additionally checked off every other field: vanity.

Katrina Brownlee: I began to imagine in myself. I began to building up … who I used to be as a individual.

But the fates were not executed with Katrina Cooke Brownlee. She was once about to be examined another time.

SURVIVAL MODE

There had been many stops alongside the manner that may have derailed Katrina Cooke Brownlee’s adventure out of darkness. Katrina says that getting thrown out of Alex Irvin’s mom’s area in Brooklyn whilst nonetheless recuperating was once one in every of them.

Katrina Brownlee: She requested me to write a letter mentioning that I shot myself 10 times so that her son didn’t pass to prison.

When Katrina refused, she says the mom booted her to the boulevard.

Katrina Brownlee: I become much more homeless. I do not understand how a lot homeless it is advisable to be, however then I in point of fact become homeless.

Katrina — who by then had her two women again — ended up in a homeless safe haven on the Lower East Side of New York.

Katrina Brownlee: Rats had been there, roaches was once there. … It was once in point of fact, in point of fact unhealthy right here. Really unhealthy.

Michelle Miller: What goes via your head as you had been taking a look at your two daughters?

Katrina Brownlee: I’m in survival mode. Everything for me at this level is survival.

Michelle Miller: Stay alive.

Katrina Brownlee Just keep alive.

Michelle Miller: Protect my women.

Katrina Brownlee: Protect my women, as a result of I felt like I had already failed. They did not make a choice him. I selected him, you already know?

Katrina says the safe haven was once so filthy, she would not use the toilet.

Katrina Brownlee: I take note placing my youngest daughter in the sink in McDonald’s … to shower her. And me, as a grown lady, having to wash up in — at a sink (sighs).

While Katrina and her women had been suffering to live on, Keri Herzog was once methodically development a sturdy case in opposition to Alex Irvin.

Keri Herzog: I used to be going to do the entirety in my energy to deliver justice to Katrina. … I fought for her teeth and nail.

But Katrina, who were cooperating with the prosecution, began backing away. Keri found out that Alex Irvin – in opposition to court docket orders — were calling and perilous Katrina from prison.

Keri Herzog: I wanted to rain down on him with the white-hot depth of a thousand suns. The vanity for him to be having this dialog with her from inside of the prison was once outrageous … he wishes to pay.

But then the protection introduced a letter to the pass judgement on purportedly written by Katrina herself. 

Keri Herzog (studying the letter): “I, Katrina Cooke, the victim in this case, has decided that I don’t want to press charges due to duress at the time of my accident.” … This is a lady who were shot 10 times and right here she’s portraying it as an coincidence.

Keri Herzog (studying the letter): And then the icing on the cake, “If I am subpoenaed to court, I will testify on the defendant’s behalf.”

Keri Herzog: I used to be horrified. But I wasn’t essentially stunned. … Katrina had already been positioned in the place of just about seeing her existence ended. If she confirmed any cooperation with me or the court docket — it would be worse for her.

Years later, Katrina would inform Keri she didn’t write that letter, however, at the time, Keri was once satisfied she had. She were given Katrina on the telephone.  

Keri Herzog: She stated,” I’m not coming in. I’m not going to talk about it. In fact, I’m going to disappear and you’re never going to find me.” … Rage was once beginning to building up inside me. … I let out this bellow and stated, “Katrina, I will hunt you down like a dog if I have to.”

Keri Herzog: And then she hung up on me.

Despite issuing a subpoena, Keri did not be expecting Katrina to seem in court docket. But even with out her superstar witness, Keri believed she would win a conviction.

In April 1994 – 12 months and 3 months after the assault – jury variety started. They had been on day 4 when the court door flew open.

Keri Herzog: I flip round and I — I see her. She’s in a brightly coloured get dressed, and her presence that day in reality made me gasp out loud. I by no means, ever anticipated her to seem. … But there she was once.

Katrina Brownlee: I had determined that …  I’m going to stroll on this court and no matter’s going to occur goes to occur.  … I did not even take a look at him … I wasn’t giving him that energy ‘reason at that level I had were given again my energy and were given again my keep watch over. So, I wasn’t even going to take a look at him. He did not even topic to me.

Keri Herzog: I believe that the defendant noticed the whites of her eyes that day and knew that the sport was once over … And she was once going to do no matter she wanted to do to take him down.

Keri Herzog: She was once again. … She was once again with a vengeance. 

Soon After, Alex Irvin pleaded in charge to all fees: tried homicide in the 2nd stage, attack in the first stage, and prison use of a firearm. There would be no trial. His sentence was once now in the palms of the pass judgement on.

Keri Herzog: I used to be very offended that he took the plea.

Katrina Brownlee: She was once extra offended I believe (laughs) than I used to be … She misplaced her thoughts … I used to be calming her down as a result of I informed her, I stated, “I’ve been through this already. Ain’t nothing going to happen to him. He got that shield. Is nothing going to happen to him.”

Keri made an impassioned plea to the pass judgement on to give the guy who shot and tortured Katrina a minimal of two decades behitnd bars; however the pass judgement on did not heed Keri’s pleas. He gave Alex Irvin the lightest sentence conceivable: 5 to 15 years. 

Keri Herzog: After listening to that it was once nearly a blind fury that took over me.

Keri Herzog: I amassed up my property and returned to my workplace. And I kicked my rubbish can from one finish of the workplace to the different. And I in reality saved that rubbish can for the remainder of my profession with this large dent in its facet.

Keri could not ship the sentence they each wanted, however she did ship one thing most likely much more vital.

Katrina Brownlee: Nobody ever cared sufficient to struggle for me.

Katrina Brownlee: She fought for me after I could not struggle for myself. … She gave me hope when I did not have hope for myself.

Katrina Brownlee: I’m thankful to her.

JOINING NY’S FINEST

With her ex-fiancé and would-be killer in jail, Katrina Cooke Brownlee curious about her long run — a long run that incorporated a activity at a impossible position: the New York City Police Department.

Michelle Miller: So, the … prison justice system failed you.

Katrina Brownlee: They failed me.

Michelle Miller: And then you definately pass and input —

Katrina Brownlee: The prison justice system. Yeah.

Michelle Miller: That was once logical for you.

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah. I used to be like, “Nope, I’m doing it.”

Keri Herzog: You may have knocked me over with a feather.

No one was once extra stunned than Katrina’s former suggest and now-friend, Keri Herzog.

Keri Herzog: Katrina and I in reality mentioned why she would sign up for the police division. And one in every of the issues she discussed, that, you already know, the perfect manner to change a system is from the inside of out. 

A system that Katrina says many times became its again on her when she’d name 911 after being overwhelmed in the years earlier than she was once shot. Katrina wanted to develop into what she says she wanted all the ones years in the past: a good cop.

Katrina Brownlee: Why no longer? Why would not I? Why would not I would like to assist offer protection to and serve? Just as a result of I did not obtain it, it does not imply that I should not need to assist others.

In July 2001 – eight-and-a-half years after her brutal assault – Katrina was once one in every of 1,600 new recruits sworn in at the NYPD’s Police Academy. They would pass on to be referred to as the 9/11 Class, when, simply two months into coaching, Katrina and her fellow police cadets become first responders on September 11.

Katrina Brownlee: That was once like one in every of the times the place I used to be like, perhaps I don’t believe I will be able to do that.

Katrina Brownlee: I driven via it as a result of … the people that was once in the academy additionally, you already know, all of us was once feeling the identical. And I believe we simply principally was once going off of one another’s power.

As Katrina began a new existence inside the prison justice system, Alex Irvin, the correction officer-turned-convict, was once launched from jail after serving 10 years. Keri remembers Katrina’s response.

Keri Herzog: It was once nearly a sigh of resignation when the time after all got here up.

Katrina Brownlee: I used to be at the starting of my profession, and I wanted to in point of fact simply put the power into that and no longer into him popping out.

From the get started, Katrina sought out a difficult project: going undercover in Brooklyn and Queens — even adopting a cigar-smoking personality to catch drug sellers.

Katrina Brownlee: Anything that entailed undercover, I did it.

Michelle Miller: Anything?

Katrina Brownlee: Anything.

Michelle Miller: So, it put you in some bad eventualities?

Katrina Brownlee: Oh, completely.

Keri Herzog: I requested myself, “Why would someone who’s been through what Katrina has been through put herself into that situation?” And then I believe, “What can anyone do to scare her at this stage of her life?” … She was once proper at loss of life’s door and got here via.

Katrina Brownlee (strolling down a boulevard): Right now, we’re on … a strip that I used to paintings on when I used to be in Vice doing undercover paintings, and this was once more or less like house for me many a-days, many a-night.

Though the undertaking was once to arrest pimps and the ones soliciting prostitution, Katrina felt a connection to the girls she encountered.

Katrina Brownlee: Being in the market in the streets … I spotted that each the sort of younger women had been — had been me in some shape or type. … It allowed me to understand how … it was once vital for me to … do my paintings to the perfect of my talent whilst I used to be in the market.

After ­­­­5 exhausting years operating undercover on the streets, Katrina took to the streets once more as a neighborhood affairs officer.

Katrina Brownlee: I simply felt that I had such a lot that I may just give again being a police officer.

Despite being the good cop she had at all times wanted to be, Katrina frightened that the secret of her previous would harm her profession.

Michelle Miller: So, you might be for your dream activity, you might be doing a nice activity, and but you might be residing with at all times the concern of being found out —

Katrina Brownlee: Correct.

Michelle Miller: — your previous —

Katrina Brownlee: My previous.

Michelle Miller:  — coming again to hang-out you.

Katrina Brownlee: Yep. Every unmarried day I went to paintings, I at all times idea that.

Michelle Miller: You by no means shared this secret?

Katrina Brownlee: Nope. … It was once painful no longer to be ready to.

Painful, as a result of Katrina believes that the trauma she suffered would have made some at the NYPD query if she was once are compatible to serve.

Katrina Brownlee: (impassioned): “I don’t want her on this job. She’s a domestic violence — she may go off and kill somebody. She might not be mentally stable.”

Though nonetheless in concern of being outed, Katrina solid forward, turning into a Detective First-Grade – the NYPD’s best investigative rank.

Katrina Brownlee: It wasn’t many ladies that had been first-grade detectives.

Keri Herzog: No one passed the rest to Katrina. What Katrina has executed, she has earned.

Keri Herzog: It’s nonetheless wonderful to me now to take into accounts the development that she made and no longer — no longer simply development, good fortune. 

Keri Herzog: She and I’ve mentioned it that good fortune is the perfect revenge.

And Katrina wasn’t executed but.

UNBURDENED

Katrina Brownlee: Never, ever, ever, ever surrender on your self. I do not care who is in opposition to you. Believe in your self.

Katrina Cooke Brownlee had spent a lifetime defying the odds: hiking out of poverty, surviving a close to deadly assault, strolling after believing she would by no means stroll once more.  And in the ultimate years of her NYPD profession, she would greenback the odds as soon as once more.

Michelle Miller: When you had been growin’ up in Brooklyn, had you— did you ever be expecting you could be operating at the mayor’s mansion?

Katrina Brownlee: No. Never. … Not even — even remotely shut.

In 2014, Katrina become one in every of the few Black girls in NYPD historical past assigned to offer protection to a New York City mayor when she was once selected to serve on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s advance safety element.

Michelle Miller: You’re only one step forward?

Katrina Brownlee: I’m only one step forward. If — if I’m walkin’ into a ditch, he is gonna observe me into that ditch, proper? If I’m walkin’ into the sundown, he comin’ in that sundown.

In 2021, after two decades on the power, Katrina retired from the NYPD. In her final assembly with the mayor, she after all unfolded about one thing she were hiding for many years: her previous.

Katrina Brownlee: And I stated, “Well, Mr. Mayor, I wrote a book.” … And … he stated, “well, what is the book about?” And I stated, “Well, Mr. Mayor, I got shot 10 times.” … And he took a deep breath, and he was once like, “but you never said anything.” And I stated, it wasn’t — “I wasn’t supposed to.”

Keri Herzog: She was once wearing round a secret. And now she has been unburdened.

Michelle Miller: I believe folks taking a look at you could by no means have an inkling … that you could have lived the existence you have got lived.

Katrina Brownlee: I frequently marvel and ask myself that, “Do I look like this has happened to me?” you already know. And … I’ve scars, proper? … So, for a very long time, the scars used to hassle me, so … I put tattoos on my abdomen so that, after I seemed in the replicate when I’m getting dressed, I did not see it.

Michelle Miller: if I might be so daring to ask, what are your tattoos?

Katrina Brownlee: Roses. Just a bunch of roses — yeah, plants.

Michelle Miller: Wow. 

Katrina Brownlee: Because that’s what I believe like that’s what I become.

Katrina has additionally discovered a manner to let pass of the emotional scars.

Katrina Brownlee: In spite of the entirety that has came about to me, proper? I forgive. I forgive.

Michelle Miller: You forgave your assailant.

Katrina Brownlee: Absolutely.

Michelle Miller: Your abuser.

Katrina Brownlee: Yeah. I had to. I had to forgive him so I will be able to get again my keep watch over so I will be able to get again my energy and so that I will be able to have a peace inside myself. There’s no peace while you harbor in anger, when you are mad. There’s no peace in that.

“48 Hours” went again with Katrina to the initiatives the place she had grown up.

MICHELLE MILLER: You take note Katrina?

MAN: When she was once younger. Yes, I take note her.

MAN: I take note while you was once rising up with your grandmother. That’s Trina (he issues out to a lady). You take note Trina?

She has moved away, however no longer to this point that she has forgotten all the different Katrinas who at the moment are the place she as soon as was once.

Michelle Miller: What’s subsequent for you?

Katrina Brownlee: Just to inform my tale … And to proceed to paintings on my group with my women, Young Ladies of Our Future.

Katrina’s group has been mentoring younger women for the previous 10 years. 

Michelle Miller: You do not want another woman or lady –

Katrina Brownlee: — to ever, ever, ever have to undergo 5% of what I went via.

Katrina Brownlee: If you construct and also you educate and provides younger folks those equipment, you save them each unmarried time.

Keri Herzog: She has that serving to gene in her. She is providing assist that surpasses what she had.

Michelle Miller: How does the Katrina sitting right here as of late vary from that 22-year-old previous Katrina?

Katrina Brownlee: Oh, wow. The 22-year-old Katrina was once misplaced, damaged … forgotten, violated. … At the lowest level … that a individual can be. And now as of late, I believe like I’m a gorgeous Black queen that fought the struggle.

Katrina has simply completed a ebook about her existence that she’s calling, “And Then Came the Blues.”

 

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Produced by Liza Finley and Lauren A. White. Diana Modica, Doreen Schechter, Marcus Balsam, Joan Adelman and Michelle Harris are the editors. Morgan Canty is the affiliate manufacturer. Peter Schweitzer and Nancy Kramer are the senior manufacturers. Nancy Kramer is the government tale editor. Judy Tygard is the government manufacturer.