Alvin L. Brooks

#StoriesIWillNeverForget

Alvin Brooks described to me a near-tragic event when he was a twenty-two-year-old cadet attending the Kansas City Missouri Police Academy. He was asked to help with an investigation.

A white woman had been knocked to the ground and robbed by a young Black man, and police wanted Alvin to join three suspects who were about the same age and build, in a lineup.

The victim was confident she could identify her attacker.

When Alvin stepped forward, the woman cried, and screamed that he was the her assailant.

The detective explained who Alvin was, and that he was eating lunch at his desk with his Sergeant when the crime occurred.

Alvin told me if he had not been with his Sergeant that day, he feels certain he would have been charged and incarcerated, like many other young African-American males who had been, "positively identified", by a victim.

Photograph © 2017 Larry F. Levenson.

All rights reserved.