NYPD charity and NY Assembly speaker pick up funeral tab for mom, disabled son found in squalid NYC apartment: They are a godsend

The mom found 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 picking up the tab.“NYPD With Arms Wide Open,” a nonprofit co-founded by veteran cop Merrit Riley to help special needs families, footed the food bill, and Heastie paid for the funeral service for Lisa Cotton and her young son, Nazir Milien, who were both found dead in their Wakefield apartment on April 18.Cotton’s 4-year-old daughter Promise was found alive but in poor condition inside the apartment with their corpses and survived alone for two weeks by eating chocolate, law enforcement sources said.“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 asked us what we needed.They are a godsend.

You can tell that they really care.”Her sister was remembered as a loving mom who struggled to care for her son, who used a wheelchair and required a feeding tube for nourishment — while also having to take care of little Promise.“My sister needed help to take care of her son, who is disabled.She wasn’t getting it,” Smith-Tention said.

“A lot was said about my sister, but by people who didn’t know her.She loves her kids and took good care of them.

The people who love her don’t judge her.”More than 100 mourners attended the wake for the tragic pair at the Wake-Eden Community Baptist Church, not far from the East 231st Street walk-up where Cotton and her children lived.“My mother loved her children.She loved Promise.

She loved Nazir.She would always try to do something with them, but, you know, it’s really sad to see her go,” said Cotton’s 17-year-old daughter Nevaeh, who did not live in the apartment.

“But I’m just glad that she went away peacefully.”Born in St.Kitts, Cotton, 38, and ...