Page 52 - Florida Sentinel 10-30-20

National Crime
Body Of Missing Rapper Found In Car Trunk After Crash In Miami, Police Say
Bethune-Cookman Shuts Down
Authorities found the body of an aspiring hip-hop artist inside the trunk of a Virginia man’s car after he crashed on a Miami highway, police said.
Robert Deupree Avery Coltrain, 25, was arrested and charged with illegal trans- port of human remains and second-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Brian Trotter, news outlets re- ported.
A Miami-Dade police re- port said Florida Highway Pa- trol responded to a crash on the Palmetto Expressway Sun- day afternoon and found Coltrain and his silver Acura.
Troopers towed the car to the parking lot of Hialeah’s Westland Mall and became suspicious of Coltrain when he asked to remove his belong- ings from the car, which in- cluded a gun case.
Authorities said they were
Citing 'Spike' In COVID-19 Cases
BRIAN TROTTER
also suspicious because they noticed buzzing flies and the smell of rotting flesh around the car.
Troopers opened Coltrain’s trunk and found Trotter’s body “wrapped in a piece of fabric and in an ad- vanced stage of decomposi- tion,” the police report said.
An autopsy revealed Trot- ter was fatally shot multiple times.
A motive for the killing
ROBERT DEUPREE AVERY COLTRAIN
wasn’t immediately released. It’s unclear whether Coltrain had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Trotter was last seen on Oct. 17 leaving his home in Tri- angle, Virginia with Coltrain, who is also from Virginia.
The two had been friends for more than a decade. Trot- ter’s family said he was trying to forge a hip-hop career. His rap name was “Kent Won’t Stop.”
Last week, the Bethune- Cookman women's basketball team took the court for the first practice of the fall.
Now, the Lady Wildcats are shut down for the rest of the season, along with every other team at the school.
Late Monday, Bethune- Cookman President Dr. Brent Chrite announced that B-CU would not partici- pate in any sports through the end of the 2021 spring season, including basketball, softball, baseball, track and field, and football.
In a letter posted on the school's website, Chrite said a "recent spike of COVID-19 positivity rates in the state, across Volusia County and on campus" drove his decision.
"While the decision to opt
DR. BRENT CHRITE
out of spring competition is the only responsible one for us at this time, it was not made lightly," Chrite said. "We know that this decision greatly impacts our student athletes, our coaching staff, our March- ing Wildcats and others, and I will be working with VP Lynn Thompson and his col- leagues to minimize and ame- liorate the impact of this decision."
All Sports Through Spring,
Protests In Philadelphia After Police Fatally Shoot Black Man
The Philadelphia police on Monday fatally shot a 27-year- old Black man who they said was armed with a knife, touch- ing off protests and violent clashes hours later in which the authorities said more than two dozen officers were in- jured.
Mayor Jim Kenney said the shooting, which was partly captured on video by a by- stander, raised “difficult ques- tions that must be answered,” and the police commissioner promised an investigation.
Protesters marched through West Philadelphia late Monday night, and video posted on social media ap- peared to show the police clashing with demonstrators. Thirty police officers were treated for cuts and bruises, caused in most cases by bricks, rocks and debris thrown by protesters, said Sgt. Eric Gripp, a spokesman for the Philadel- phia Police Department. A sergeant was treated at a hos- pital for a broken leg after she was hit by a pickup truck, he said.
The shooting took place around 4 p.m., as the police responded to a report of a man armed with a knife. Video that
Walter Wallace was shot 14 times for altercation with po- lice.
was posted on social media shows the man, whom the au- thorities later identified as Walter Wallace, Jr., walk- ing into the street as people yell and two police officers aim their guns at him.
At one point, Wallace, who is several feet from the of- ficers in the video, walks to- ward them as they quickly move backward. The camera points down toward the ground as about a dozen shots are heard.
Sergeant Gripp told The Philadelphia Inquirer that of- ficers had ordered Mr. Wal- lace to drop the knife and that he had “advanced toward the officers.” The paper reported that there were two officers in- volved in the episode. After
the officers shot Wallace, one of them drove him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, he said.
Chief Inspector Frank Vanore of the Philadelphia police said at a news confer- ence on Tuesday afternoon that he did not know how many times Wallace had been shot.
“It’s all part of the active investigation,’’ he said. “We are still reviewing all the evi- dence.”
Wallace’s father, Wal- ter Wallace, Sr., said his son had struggled with mental health issues and was on med- ication, The Inquirer reported. “Why didn’t they use a Taser?” he asked. “His mother was try- ing to defuse the situation.”
HBCU News
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