CHICAGO — It was a call that nobody wants to hear: Your brother is in the intensive care unit at the hospital.
That’s the call CBS Chicago says Rosie Brooks got in May.
“She identified herself as Jennifer from Mercy Hospital,” Brooks told CBS Chicago. “She was a social worker. She was looking for relatives of Alfonso Bennett, and I told her that was my brother. And she said, ‘Well, he’s here in ICU.'”
Brooks and her sister rushed to the hospital where they were told their brother was brought in as John Doe after he was beaten badly, according to CBS Chicago.
According to The Washington Post, the family told the hospital staff they couldn't identify the person in the hospital bed as their brother. But the newspaper says Chicago police claimed to have identified the man as Alfonso using mug shots -- not fingerprints, reportedly due to budget cuts.
The man’s health declined, and the sister signed papers to take him off a ventilator, CBS Chicago said. His sister said within minutes he was cold.
CBS Chicago said the sisters bought a casket and a suit and even made funeral arrangements.
Then a call came in form their other sister -- Yolanda.
Yolanda told them their brother Alfonso was alive and had just walked through the front door, according to CBS Chicago. The sister told the television station that the person they thought was their brother was later identified, by fingerprints, at the morgue as someone else.
What other people are reading right now:
- Valedictorian calls out teacher, counselor in her graduation speech
- 10-hour wait times reported for new Hagrid roller coaster at Universal Orlando
- Police: Man broke into home to snatch little girl but grandpa wasn’t going to let that happen
- 10-hour wait times reported for new Hagrid roller coaster at Universal Orlando
- Alligator and donkey face off in Florida
►Have a news tip? Email desk@wtsp.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
