It’s Tuesday, May 3rd - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Two parents are living a nightmare after their 2-year-old daughter was killed by a hit-and-run driver last week in northwest Miami-Dade.
Mikenson Cherident and Mirha Bazile survived the April 27 crash. Their 2-year-old daughter, Maritza, died at the hospital. Mikenson doesn’t remember what the car looked like when it struck them near NW 10th Avenue and 116th Street. The family lives in the area and they were walking to a nearby market. Mikenson and Mirha recently arrived in South Florida from Chile. They know very few people here and say they don’t know how they’ll carry on without their only child. Click here for more in a report from NBC 6 News.
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No. 2 - Two men with ties to a Miami-Dade commissioner are among three people facing charges related to a $640,000 theft of county money, authorities said.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the charges at a Monday afternoon news conference. Authorities said the trio are accused of manipulating the county's grant awarding process by utilizing the prestige of a commissioner's office. Arrested in the theft are 48-year-old Evelt Jeudy and 55-year-old Mackinley Lauriston, Fernandez Rundle said. Jeudy is an aide for Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime, and Lauriston is Monestime's former chief of staff, according to Fernandez Rundle. The third suspect, 51-year-old Nadeine Chery, was arrested in St. Lucie County, and is a former Well Fargo bank branch manager.
No. 3 - A draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report released Monday.
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A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year's elections. But it's unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process. NBC News has not obtained nor confirmed the draft. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said the court had no comment. Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court’s secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance.
No. 4 - The sentencing of convicted Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is on hold, again.
Lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill was absent from Monday morning’s jury selection. No official reason was provided, but Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer was heard asking the defense team if McNeill would return Tuesday and about her needing a "test." “Is she getting a test today?” Scherer asked. No one could say when McNeill would return. Her boss, Broward Public Defender Gordon Weekes, could not officially give a reason for her absence citing her privacy. The judge asked Cruz if he was comfortable going forward with Monday’s jury screening without McNeill. Cruz answered, “Yes."
No. 5 - In a video posted to a WhatsApp chat, Ryan Crawford known as “Brody” is dancing and celebrating what he says is going to be the launch of his new crypto coin called “Cheetah.”
“We are about to take over the world,” Crawford can be heard saying in the video, which was posted on Dec. 5, 2021. According to Alberto Rivera and two others who spoke to NBC 6 Investigators, Crawford told them he was launching the new coin and a digital platform that used artificial intelligence to do crypto trading. Rivera told NBC 6 he sent Crawford close to $12,000 between crypto and cash. But Rivera said he never got a return because Crawford’s alleged house of cards came crumbling down the day of a launch party when a group of prominent figures sent him $140,000 to invest. In a post he shared via WhatsApp, he admitted he lost it all. Click here to find out how you can avoid getting scammed in a report from NBC 6 investigator Myriam Masihy.
No. 6 - Tyler Herro scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, and the Miami Heat topped the shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers 106-92 on Monday night in the opener of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Jimmy Butler added 15 points for the top-seeded Heat, who got 10 from Gabe Vincent and P.J. Tucker. Game 2 is Wednesday. At the same time, the Florida Panthers open their first-round playoff series Tuesday against the Washington Capitals at 7:30 p.m. The Cats, who won the Presidents Cup with the most points in the regular season, are looking to win their first playoff series since 1996.
