New York Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
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NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

ALBANY


SCHUMER COMMITTEE RAISES QUESTIONS OF GUBERNATORIAL HOPES


Senator Schumer, up for re-election this year and considered a potential candidate for governor in 2006, has filed registration papers for a “Friends of Schumer” campaign committee with the state Board of Elections.


A filing submitted last week to the state board showed the Democratic incumbent’s committee had more than $11.5 million on hand. While the committee’s filing caught the attention of his Republican challenger, state Assemblyman Howard Mills, and others, an aide to Mr. Schumer said yesterday it is not evidence the senator has his sights set on the governorship.


Spokesman Stu Loeser said the filing with the state board was required because Mr. Schumer wanted to spread around about $500,000 to local Democratic committees and candidates across New York. The Schumer aide said a federal committee cannot legally do that without registering with the state board. Mr. Loeser said that other than where the papers are filed – Albany or Washington – the two committees are one and the same.


– Associated Press


BROOKLYN


HIGH SCHOOL SHUT DOWN AFTER WATER PIPE BURSTS


A burst water pipe shut down Lafayette High School yesterday. School administrators discovered a flood on the fourth floor of the Brooklyn school at about 7:30 a.m. They quickly called parents and informed them that students would have to report to other school buildings. Half of the approximately 2,200 students spent the day at New Utrecht High School and half went to John Dewey High School. The situation was under control by 9:30 a.m., and a full cleanup of the building was conducted during the day. There was no major damage and no injuries. The Department of Education is investigating the cause of the rupture. The school will re-open its doors to students today.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


QUEENS


DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS LAW FALLS SHORT IN DRUNK DRIVING CHARGE


A Queens man who mowed down two boys with his car, killing one, was formally charged yesterday with the most serious count legally allowed – driving while under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor – leaving Queens prosecutors wringing their hands that they cannot charge him with a more serious crime.


“The case is another example of the lethal consequences resulting from driving while intoxicated and deserves to be treated with greater seriousness than the law presently allows,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. John Wirta, 56, of Fresh Meadows, is accused of driving drunk and hitting the boys on a Flushing street Friday. Vasean Alleyne, 11, was killed. His friend, Angel Reyes, 12, was critically injured and is hospitalized.


Police officers at the scene said Mr. Wirta admitted having “a few beers.” They said his eyes were bloodshot, his speech was slurred, and he was unsteady on his feet. Tests showed Mr. Wirta had a blood alcohol content of 0.13%, Mr. Brown said. The legal limit in New York state is 0.08%.


– Associated Press


LONG ISLAND


ACCUSED KILLER SPOKE OF PLOT, MAN TESTIFIES


A year before an investment banker was bludgeoned to death in his East Hampton mansion, the man on trial for the murder spoke of a plan to get access to the millionaire’s money by becoming romantically involved with his estranged wife and then killing him, a contractor testified yesterday.


“I’ll bash his brains in while he’s sleeping,” Daniel Pelosi allegedly told James Nicolino in October 2000 after the two had drinks at a bar, Mr. Nicolino testified.


He added that when he warned Mr. Pelosi that police would likely deem him a prime suspect, the defendant allegedly countered: “Then I’ll make it look like an accident….I’ll throw his body in the pool.”


Mr. Pelosi, 41, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Theodore Ammon, who was found dead in his bedroom in October 2001. Ammon, 52, who ran the private equity firm Chancery Lane Capital and was chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, was within days of finalizing a bitter divorce from his wife, Generosa Ammon.


– Associated Press


POLICE BLOTTER


SUSPECTED SHOOTER AT LARGE


The man fatally gunned down at a Chelsea playground was an ex-convict who once did time for gun possession, and his killer remained at large last night.


David Deckle, 27, of Manhattan, was pronounced dead Sunday evening after he was shot three times on W. 27th Street. The suspect fled the scene, and detectives are investigating whether the shooting was in retaliation for an October 10 shooting at the same location.


Deckle was shot in the chest, chin, and knee by someone he knew, police said. The medical examiner ruled that the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the torso that perforated his lung, liver, and kidney.


Deckle was released from a Wyoming prison on January 14, 2002, after serving more than four years for third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.


After Deckle was mortally wounded, he told police officers that the gunman fled into 427 W. 26th St., a building at the Chelsea Elliot Houses development. Despite an intensive police response involving heavily armored officers of the Emergency Services Unit, the suspect slipped away from the scene.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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