|
FATEFUL NIGHT
Feb. 14, 1999. That evening, Gilda Terry came home from work and half-jokingly chewed out her son, Coleman -- who had recently moved back into his mom's 140th Street apartment -- for not bringing her any Valentine's Day candy.
So he ran down five flights of steps and to the corner store. When he returned, he handed her a packet of peanut-chew candies before leaving the apartment again.
She settled down to watch the first of a two-part TV movie before going to bed. Terry would never see her son alive again. To this day, she will not watch two-part TV movies because it brings back bad memories.
When she returned from work the next day, Coleman was not home. Terry settled down on the couch to watch the second part of the movie (the title escapes her), her Valentine's peanut chews on the end table ready to be eaten. They would sit there, uneaten and forgotten, for weeks afterward.
Terry doesn't remember who called her with the news that her son had been shot, but she immediately jumped into a cab and rushed to a nearby hospital. It was the wrong place -- Coleman's body was in front of the Delano Village housing project, just a block away from the park.
Coleman's uncle, Kenny Phinazee, rushed to the scene, but the police would not let him pass. A crowd had gathered. He gripped the black iron gate -- the night air so cold that he could see his breath -- and cried for the first time in years.
Police soon arrested Woodley, who grew up with Coleman and his two brothers. At the time, Woodley was facing federal drug charges -- he had been arrested earlier in the year, along with Coleman's older brother, Donald Phinazee.
The New York Daily News reported that Woodley had a beef with one of Coleman's brothers and instead took it out on Coleman. Neighborhood speculation has provided plenty of other rumors. But to this day, Coleman's family does not know why Coleman was killed.
But there was not enough evidence to charge Woodley with the murder, said an assistant district attorney, Dan M. Rather. The investigation is still open.
In December 1999, Woodley nervously pleaded guilty to one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. He is serving a 50-month sentence in a New York federal prison and is scheduled to be released in late December.
To add further agony, Coleman's other brother, Leroy Phinazee, was murdered last year. His family declines to discuss the details, but Terry says Phinazee was killed while trying to find out what happened to Coleman.
_________________
Lerne - und es werden dir Zweifel kommen.
Zweifle - und es werden dir Probleme kommen.
Stelle dich den Problemen - und es werden dir darüber Gedanken kommen.
Mache dir Gedanken - und du wirst Erkenntnis erlangen.
-Kaibara Ekiken-
|
Anmelden
FAQ
Suche
