The mother discovered dead in a squalid Bronx apartment next to the body of her disabled 8-year-old son was remembered at a moving memorial service Sunday, with an NYPD charity and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie covering the costs.
“NYPD With Arms Wide Open,” a nonprofit co-founded by veteran cop Merrit Riley to assist special needs families, covered the food bill, and Heastie paid for the funeral service for Lisa Cotton and her young son, Nazir Milien, who were both discovered dead in their Wakefield apartment on April 18.
Cotton’s 4-year-old daughter Promise was discovered alive but in poor condition inside the apartment with their bodies, having survived for two weeks solely on chocolate, according to law enforcement sources.
“Merrit and his organization are amazing,” Cotton’s sister, Tawana Smith-Tention, who delivered the eulogy at the service, told The Post on Sunday. “They reached out to us right away and inquired about our needs. They are a Godsend. You can tell they genuinely care.
Her sister was remembered as a loving mother who struggled to care for her son, who used a wheelchair and needed a feeding tube to stay alive, while also caring for little Promise.
“My sister needed help caring for her disabled son. “She wasn’t getting it,” Smith-Tention explained. “Many things were said about my sister, but by people who did not know her. She adores her children and takes great care of them. People who love her do not judge her.”
More than 100 people attended the tragic couple’s wake at Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church, which is near Cotton and her children’s East 231st Street walk-up apartment.
“My mother loved her children. She adored Promise. She adored Nazir. Cotton’s 17-year-old daughter Nevaeh, who did not live in the apartment, said, “She was always trying to do something with them, but it’s really sad to see her go.” “But I’m just glad that she went away peacefully.”
Born on St. Kitts, Cotton, 38, and her older brother moved to the United States to live with their father. They grew up in New York City and eventually graduated from John F. Kennedy High School.
Nazir was born in 2017, and his mother adored him, according to family members, until their tragic deaths.
“It feels surreal to be here today,” her brother, Akim Cotton, said at the service. “My heart aches with loss. It is beyond words. It’s profoundly beyond words. But I take comfort in knowing that they’re at peace.”
Riley was moved by the tragic story and offered the nonprofit’s assistance to the grieving family.
The veteran cop, who has a special needs son named Aidan, founded With Arms Wide Open with his partner, retired NYPD detective Danny Sprague, to assist other police families facing similar challenges.
“We started our foundation about 10 years ago to help police officers with kids with special needs, or terminal illness, with anything not covered by insurance,” Riley explained to The Washington Post.
He said he was inspired by his precinct’s generosity, which paid for him, his son, and his son’s mother to travel to the Dominican Republic — and the idea struck him.
“I wanted to do something to show my appreciation, and we started this,” he told me.
“Over the years, we’ve assisted numerous police officer families. Every now and then, when we hear a story outside of the police department, you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t help, if your heart didn’t ache from hearing it,” Riley said. “I had to do something.”
Pastor Frank Williams told The Post that Heastie’s office will pay for the couple’s funeral and cremation services, and the church will provide free use of its space and musicians.
Cotton’s tragic death was one of seven cases highlighted by The Post in a report on children who died while under the supervision of the city Administration for Children’s Services — case workers knocked on the door and walked away one day before the grisly discovery, leaving Promise alone inside.
According to sources, investigators believe Cotton, who had asthma, died of cardiac arrest, while her prematurely born son, who had a feeding tube, may have starved to death.
Daisy Griffin, who grew up on Qincey Street in Brooklyn with Cotton, said at Sunday’s service that her friends and family still want to know what went wrong.
“I just want to know what really happened to her,” Griffin said. “It’s as if everyone is keeping things a secret, which is sad because her family, including her daughter, has no idea what happened.
“We want to know what really happened so it could be laid to rest,” she told us.
