Florida Sentinel Bulletin

Rodney King, 47, had been drinking all day and smoking marijuana at his Rialto, California home in the hours before his death, according to his fiancée, Cynthia Kelly, who was a juror in King’s lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles in 1994.

Kelly said she went to bed at 2:00 a.m. and was awakened at approximately 5:00 a.m. by King screaming in the backyard.

According to sources, “he was naked and banging on the glass,” so she called out to him, “What’s wrong, Rodney?”

She left to get her phone — to call whom is unknown — and once her back was turned, she heard “a loud splash.” Kelly quickly ran over to the pool and saw King at the bottom of it. She called police at approximately 5:25 a.m. who upon arrival attempted to resuscitate him until paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead at 6:11 a.m. at Arrowhead Regional Hospital, said Rialto, California police Lt. Dean Hardin.

According to King’s friend, Damon Feldman, he spoke to Rodney around 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. He was allegedly in a good mood, discussing his revitalized boxing career and an upcoming celebrity match-up against Jose Canseco that was to be announced during a June 29 press conference.

Police report that Kelly said King was an “avid swimmer” and that they did not see any sign of foul play or drug paraphernalia. His death is being treated as a drowning and an autopsy will be performed on his body by the The San Bernardino County coroner within 48 hours.

In response to a caller named Richard who was rambling on and on about how he calls the president “Rabbit Ears,” and saying that he would like to know who actually voted for “the idiot” in the White House who is trying to destroy the country, Barbara Espinosa chimed in with: “Well, I don’t call him “rabbit ears,” I call him a monkey,” she said. “I don’t believe in calling him the first Black president, I call him the first Monkey president.”

You can hear the rumbles of disbelief behind her and a caller named Joe let her know just how much of an idiot she sounded.

Barry Gilton and Lupe Mercado stand accused of tracking their 17-year-old daughter’s pimp, Calvin Sneed, 22, across the state of California and shooting him to death.

The couple allegedly first attempted to kill Sneed in North Hollywood; when that failed, they alleged tried again in Candlestick Park near their home in San Francisco. Sneed was driving when he was struck by a bullet to the head and drove into a parked car. He later died at a local hospital.

Sneed, officials said, was gunned down in his car on June 4 at 2 a.m. by Gilton, who allegedly fired a .40-caliber weapon from a silver Mercedes-Benz SUV.

“We have substantial evidence to believe that this was a premeditated event,” Dist. Atty. George Gascon said Thursday.

Timothy V. Jorden, the Buffalo surgeon suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend, Jackie Wisniewski, was found dead near his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday.

While on the run, the former Army man was considered armed and dangerous.

Jorden was reportedly found wearing scrubs when police found his body in besides creek near his Lakeview, N.Y. home. Police identified the trauma surgeon by his tattoos. They would not disclose where he shot himself.  Jorden was wanted in connection with the murder of his one-time girlfriend Wisniewski, 33, who was shot dead Wednesday morning on the floor of the Erie County Medical Center.

Shantel Davis, a 23-year-old Brooklyn woman, was shot dead by a New York City police officer on Thursday, the New York Daily News reports. She was unarmed when officer Phillip Atkins, 44, shot her in the chest during the chase.

The incident took place around 5:40 p.m. after cops saw Davis in a gray Toyota Camry she reportedly carjacked on June 5. The New York Police Department says that Davis ran several red lights and crossed a double yellow line to pass cars before running into a minivan.

When two cops approached the vehicle, Davis attempted to escape from the passenger side front door. When that attempt failed, she reportedly tried to kick the car in reverse. Officer Atkins got inside of the vehicle while Davis was trying to reverse it with his gun in hand.

For as long as there have been teachers, students have had excuses: My dog ate my homework. My computer crashed. I had football practice.

But 11-year-old Tyler Sullivan of Minnesota isn’t one to make excuses. He’s a good kid: he finishes his work after playing quarterback, his computer is well maintained, and his dog doesn’t like paper.

“If I was president I would say no more smoking, no more tobacco, and no more drugs,” said Sullivan.

But on Friday, Sullivan skipped school for the first time in his life, to meet President Barack Obama.

Obama was in town visiting the Honeywell facility in Golden Valley, Minn.

Tyler’s father, Ryan, had introduced Obama before his speech at Honeywell, and Obama approached the family after the speech.

“First I said, ‘Hi, Mr. President.’ Then he says, ‘Hi Tyler, you must be out of school then,’” said Tyler.

Obama realized Tyler was skipping school, and asked an aide for a pen and a card with presidential letterhead.

“Do you want me to write an excuse note? What’s your teacher’s name?” Tyler remembered. “And I say, ‘Mr. Ackerman.’ And he writes, ‘Please excuse Tyler. He was with me. Barack Obama, the president.” Tyler has framed the note.

“Pretty cool – and it’s like oh, I’m famous. It’s really cool,” Tyler said.

MIAMI — George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer charged with murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, surrendered to police Sunday and was booked into a central Florida jail two days after his bond was revoked.

Zimmerman’s legal team said in a tweet Sunday afternoon that he was in police custody. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester revoked Zimmerman’s bond on Friday, saying the defendant and his wife had lied to the court in April about their finances so he could obtain a lower bond.

About 40 minutes before the 2:30 p.m. Sunday deadline to surrender, the Seminole County jail website listed Zimmerman as an inmate. He was being held without bail and had $500 in his jail account, the website showed.

Prosecutors said last week that Zimmerman and his wife told the judge at a bond hearing in April that they had limited money, even though he had raised about $135,000 through a website set up for his legal defense. They suggested more has been collected since and deposited in a bank account. Defense attorneys say the matter is a misunderstanding.

The judge said Friday he would schedule a hearing after Zimmerman was back in custody so he could explain himself.

Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Trayvon Martin’s parents — Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton — said his clients have always said Zimmerman should remain in jail until trial.

In what family members are calling a “freak accident” 15-year-old Kadijah James died from a gunshot wound to the chest as a result of playing with a gun with her 17-year-old brother in Detroit, TV station WXYZ reports.

Police say that the brother and sister were playing around with a gun when it accidentally went off. Another teen was reportedly in the home where the incident took place. The brother was taken in for questioning by the police. Relatives do not know who owns the gun.

The girl’s aunt, Charmaine Crowell, says that Kadijah was an excellent student and loved by all of her friends. She was in the tenth grade at the time of her death.

Thousands of names, Social Security numbers and birth dates accidentally are released to the public every year by the U.S. government.

The information is in the Social Security Death Master File, made public by the Social Security Administration and designed to include only deceased people. The file is widely available on the Internet and is known as a go-to resource for identity thieves.

The master file erroneously adds information for about 1,000 living people every month, apparently due in part to data-entry mistakes. Information from living people was documented in the file by government watchdog reports as far back as 2008.

Still, the problem continues, according to the Social Security inspector general.

“These errors can have serious consequences for the affected individuals,” Inspector General Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr. said during a recent congressional hearing. “That personal information can be used to obtain loans or credit, to apply for government benefits or to assume a new identity.”