By Sarina Trangle
Between proclamations of “Praise be his glory” and speeches commemorating Demika Moore and La Mont Dottin, dozens released balloons and watched the white and violet spheres diminish from the Jamaica sidewalk.
“We know that they’re really with God — La Mont, Demika and all missing children,” said Arnita Fowler, whose son, La Mont Dottin, disappeared in 1995 and was found floating dead in the East River days later. “You can get through it. You can do good work as a result of it.”
In Fowler’s case, she started the La Mont Dottin Foundation in an attempt to reverse policing policies that prevented the city from notifying her family that it had identified her son and buried his remains in Potter’s Field for four years.
The La Mont Dottin Foundation organized Saturday’s Walk of Hope, which departed from Rufus King Park north to Blanche Memorial Baptist Church in Jamaica. The event culminated in Fowler’s releasing balloons in honor of her son and Leticia Moore-Jackson doing so to pay tribute to her niece, Demika Moore, who disappeared in 2010 and was killed months later.
Throughout the walk and rally, the roughly 30 attendees asked passers-by to sign petitions supporting legislation that would require the Police Department to more rapidly classify adults as missing people
rather than assuming they are able-bodied and want not to stay in touch.
For years, Fowler has been highlighting her son’s case and pushing for changes in policing protocol. Dottin left his grandparents Hollis home to mail a package Oct. 18, 1995, but Fowler said because he was 21, police would not take a missing person’s report until Nov. 13. She moved from California to Queens and spent years searching for him, only to learn in September 1999 that the city had identified Dottin’s remains six days after he went missing and buried him in Potter’s field.
But recent revisions to proposed legislation have advocates feeling optimistic.
Last session, the state Senate passed Sen. James Sanders’s (D-South Ozone Park) Jr. bill calling for police to stop assuming adults are not missing and develop protocols for dispatching the names, descriptions and other details of missing adults across city, state and federal officer communication systems. Its counterpart, introduced by state Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-St. Albans) did not succeed.
“With the real possibility that the Senate Democrats will take the majority, all of these bills are on the table,” Sanders said.
City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) has introduced a resolution calling on the state to pass these bills, which has the backing of 13 others.
Moore-Jackson said police declined to classify her niece’s sudden departure in 2010 as a missing person incident. She was found beaten to death in St. Albans about six months later. Because medical personnel believe she died the day her remains were found, Moore-Jackson said a more rapid response from police might have made a difference.
“Even after three months, we went and asked to have a report taken, please. And they would not,” Moore-Jackson said, who noted Moore would have been 29 last weekend. “We were out there marching and walking on her birthday on behalf of other missing people, hoping if we get the laws changed, we could prevent other families from going through this heartache.”
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com
