Florida Sentinel Bulletin

MISSISSIPPI — Three-month-old Norman Collins, III died after being left in a hot car outside of a church for hours last weekend. The infant was the son of music minister Norman Collins, Jr. of Real Faith Christian Church in Clarksdale, Mississippi, who says the death was the result of a “miscommunication”.

Collins, Jr. arrived at the church with his wife and son and asked a church member to retrieve the baby from the car. The church member says he didn’t hear him and the baby was left in the car.

By the time Collins realized the baby was still in the car it was too late. He rushed the unconscious infant to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Local police charged Collins with negligent manslaughter and is he now out on a $30,000 bond.

The Coahoma County District Attorney is investigating the case.

LOS ANGELES — Former Black Panther Party leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, whose murder conviction was overturned after he spent 27 years in prison for a crime he maintained he did not commit, has died. He was 63.

Pratt died at his home in a small village in Tanzania, where he had lived for at least half a decade, lawyer Stuart Hanlon, who helped Pratt win his freedom, said.

Hanlon said he learned of Pratt’s death through the former activist’s family members. He did not know what caused Pratt’s death, but said he had suffered from high blood pressure.

Hanlon said Pratt refused to carry any resentment about his treatment by the legal system.

Pratt had no anger, he had no bitterness, and he had no desire for revenge. He wanted to resume his life and have children,” Hanlon said. “He would never look back.”

Pictured: Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, flanked by his daughter, Shona, wipes his brow as he faces reporters after he was released on bail in Santa Ana, CA in this June 10,1997 photo.

PHILADELPHIA — A long-trusted attorney for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was arrested for allegedly stealing $1.7 million over 12 years.

Lawyer and general counsel Roosevelt Hairston Jr., of Malvern, was charged last week for embezzling $1.7 million from the hospital. Hairston held the general counsel position for less than a year until being fired on February 18, 2011.

The charges — mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a fake tax return — stem from the “financial irregularities” found during an internal investigation.

Hairston allegedly forged invoices and created fake companies to launder money.

Hairston served on the board of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and was appointed by former Mayor John Street to the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.

Hairston resigned from both of these positions within days of being fired.

PHILADELPHIA — Officer Howard Lomax, a 17-year veteran of the force assigned to the Center City District, was arrested for allegedly assaulting his live-in girlfriend and his estranged wife in separate April incidents.

The first alleged beating happened on April 20 when Lomax allegedly hit his live-in girlfriend inside their home, cops said.

The second case happened four days later when Lomax, while off-duty and on restricted duty status, allegedly beat his estranged wife inside her home, according to cops.

After an internal investigation, the 40-year-old cop was charged with two counts of simple assault and two counts of recklessly endangering another person.

Lomax was suspended 30 days with intent to dismiss by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, police said.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama spent Memorial Day paying tribute to the military.

The Obamas visited Arlington National Cemetery where the president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Following the ceremony, the president participated in the Memorial Day Service at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery along with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The Obamas started the day hosting a breakfast for families who have lost loved ones in combat.

Also Monday, the president introduced Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as his next choice to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Pictured: Pres. Barack Obama walks with Maj. Gen. Karl Horst, commander of the U. S. Army Military District of Washington, his wife Nancy, and first lady Michelle Obama before placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 30, 2011.

ATLANTA, GA — Two women fell through a W Hotel window in Atlanta, GA early Saturday morning, leaving one woman dead, and the other in critical condition.

According to reports, police says the women were “play fighting” around 3:15 a.m. and crashed through the window.

LaShawna M. Threatt, 30, died at the scene. Ciara Williams, 25, is in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Threatt, a popular model in Atlanta, was at the hotel with friends, celebrating her 30th birthday.

“It appears that there was no malicious act, no foul play, they were just wrestling with each other, they hit the window, the window broke, and they fell out,” Atlanta Police Lt. Paul Guerrucci said.

MIAMI, FL — More than 100 friends of slain poet Willie Lee Bell, Jr. gathered outside his Literary Café and Poetry Lounge in North Miami on Monday evening to pay tribute to him.

He was gunned down after closing the café Saturday night on 125th Street in North Miami.

Bell, who performed as “Will Da Real One,” and appeared on Def Poetry Jam, was shot multiple times as he closed up the cafe around 12:40 a.m. Police say a car pulled up beside him and a passenger opened fire before the car sped off.

The 47 year old, who opened the cafe in the summer of 2003 to host and promote spoken word poetry, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are still looking for the shooters.

Four detectives were in the crowd at the twilight vigil hoping to get any information about the shooting. North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre also attended and offered Bell’s family help, assuring them finding his murderers was a top priority of the city.

NEW YORK — Choy “CC” Barrington, 21, a nurse and cosmetology student in New York, who was three months pregnant, died in a fire after falling asleep while smoking a cigarette.

Her roommates tried in vain to save the cosmetology student and geriatric nurse, who was three months pregnant, after waking in the middle of the night to find their home engulfed in smoke.

“Two weeks ago she fell asleep with a cigarette in her mouth,” said [her boyfriend Laurel] Prince, who explained he had to pull the lit butt from Barrington’s mouth as she slept.

“But I was there to save her and put it out. … I wasn’t there to save her this time.”

DENVER — Denver authorities have begun outlining their case against a ruthless pimp for running a sophisticated hooker ring through the city’s best-known strip clubs.

Germaine “Jell-O” Wallace was living in a $1.3 million pad near Castle Rock, Colo., with a driveway full of custom cars and collection of exotic pets when he was busted on pimping, sexual assault and weapons charges in November, police said in recently filed court papers.

Authorities said Wallace sent a crew of loyal hookers into the area’s swankiest jiggle joints to turn tricks — and strong-arm other strippers to do the same.

Busting an operation as big as his was unusual because police have a hard time getting hookers to talk.

One 20-year-old stripper told police she was recruited into Jell-O’s world by a dancer at the swank Centerfold Showclub.

The woman said Wallace raped her and forced her and other dancers to recruit Johns for sex in the clubs’ champagne rooms.

Pictured: Germaine “Jell-O” Wallace and the mansion was the base of his prostitution ring which included, (L-R) Amber Wilson, Allison Kelly, Theresa Weeks and Kara Laughead.