POLICE BLOTTER

CHILDREN’S SERVICES DIRECTOR ARRESTED AFTER BRAWL

A deputy director at the city’s Administration for Children’s Services was arrested for assault early yesterday morning after participating in a violent street brawl at Hunts Point in the Bronx, police said.

Donald Antonetty, 44, third in command at the ACS field office at the Bronx, was taken into custody at 6:20 a.m. yesterday after rushing to visit a friend at Lincoln Hospital. The friend had been stabbed in what police described as an early morning fight among six men-including Mr. Antonetty, who had fled from the P.J. Lounge Bar – at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Dawson Street.

Inside the hospital, others involved in the fight spotted Mr. Antonetty and alerted police. The deputy director was then arrested and charged with assault in the second degree, a felony. Three others were also charged with assault in the incident: Luigi Castillo, 22; Angel Rodriguez, 23; and Juan Baez, 25.

A spokeswoman for the Administration for Children’s Services, Elysia Carnevala, said the agency was aware of the incident and was investigating the arrest.

Mr. Antonetty’s sister, who declined to identity herself by first name, said she had not seen Mr. Antonetty since early Saturday. “He does what he wants, he’s a grown man,” she said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Mr. Antonetty was also charged with having a forged police department parking credential on his car.

-Staff Reporter of the Sun

THREE STABBED IN QUEENS BAR FIGHT

Three men were stabbed, one of them fatally, after an quarrel at an Elmhurst bar erupted into violence early yesterday morning.

Two of the victims, a 21-year-old man and a 23-year-old man suffered stab wounds to their chests. They were taken to Elmhurst General Hospital in critical condition. The 21-year-old victim was pronounced dead at 4:40 a.m. A third victim suffered stab wounds to the head, arm and body, and was taken to Booth Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

The attackers are described as three Hispanic men in their 20s.According to police, the dispute that led to the violence appeared to be over a woman. No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BYSTANDER SHOT IN BROOKLYN CLUB

A woman was shot and killed at a Bensonhurst club when gunfire erupted after a dispute. According to law enforcement sources, the woman was not the intended target of the attack.

The shooting occurred at 6:48 a.m. yesterday in an illegal after-hours club at 1739 W. 7th St. The 40-year-old victim was killed by a single gunshot wound to the back of her head. She was taken to Coney Island Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Police said the shooter, who is described as a Hispanic man in his 30s, is believed to be a patron of the club, and is still at large.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TWO POLICEMEN SLASHED AT MIDWOOD

Two officers patrolling the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn were slashed in the face Saturday night by a man whom police are describing as emotionally disturbed.

Kwesi Ashun, 20, was armed with a butcher’s knife and another folding knife when approached by officer James Sinnott, who was subsequently cut by Mr. Ashun and suffered a gash from his ear to his neck, police said.

Officer Sinnott then called for assistance in attempting to subdue Mr. Ashun. Responding to the situation, Officer Brian Risano was cut on his ear, police said. Both officers were treated and released. Mr. Ashun was taken to Kings County Hospital where he was admitted for psychological evaluation.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

COURT DECISION BOLSTERS SMOKING BAN FOES

A court decision dismissing fines against three Long Island taverns where patrons were seen puffing on cigarettes has opponents of the state’s workplace smoking ban hopeful of getting the courts to overturn the smoking prohibition.

The Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association said the ruling will be cited in the court papers the group’s lawyers are preparing for a federal court challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s 2003 workplace smoking ban.

“I think it strengthens our case,” Scott Wexler, director of the Restaurant & Tavern Association, said.

On October 13, state Supreme Court Justice Paul Baisley Jr. threw out the $650 fines levied against Jack McCarthy’s Pub, Tobin’s 2 Pub, and the Dunton Inn after a Suffolk County Health Department inspector found patrons smoking in each establishment.

The inspector said that although “No Smoking” signs were posted, plastic cups half-filled with liquid appeared to have been set out as makeshift ashtrays and she saw no employees of the bar challenged the smokers.

The judge said the inspector was not in the bars when the patrons started smoking, so it was unknown whether the owners warned customers that they were violating the ban, as the law requires.

The judge also found that it is not a requirement in the smoking ban law that people who are smoking in defiance of the ban be denied service, as a hearing officer in Suffolk County suggested when ordering the fines against the three bars. Making proprietors deny service to smokers would be an “onerous, substantive enforcement requirement” on business owners that is not called for in the law, Judge Baisley ruled.

Christine Malafi, Suffolk County’s attorney, said she is preparing an appeal of Judge Baisley’s ruling. She said the case was decided on the facts, not the constitutionality of the smoking ban, and that “the facts as testified to were sufficient to sustain the smoking fines.”

Mr. Wexler’s group claims that the law unfairly puts the onus on proprietors of bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, and other businesses to enforce the ban or to face fines of up to $2,000 and other penalties if they fail.

– Associated Press

QUEENS

MOTHER OF DWI VICTIM SAYS SHE HAS CONFIDENCE IN SYSTE

The mother of an 11-year-old Queens boy run over by an allegedly drunken driver in an accident that killed his best friend said yesterday that the moment her son awoke from his coma and kissed her “felt like he was born again.”

Diana Reyes also expressed confidence in the legal system, even though the driver charged with hitting her son, Angel Reyes, and his friend, Vasean Alleyne, also 11, on October 22 faces only a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge.

“I have confidence in our justice system, that they will be able to…bring him up against charges to the full extent of the law,” Ms. Reyes said.

John Wirta, 56, of Fresh Meadows, is accused of driving drunk in a van and hitting the boys as they crossed a street in Flushing. He admitted having “a few beers” before the accident, police said.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown met late last week with the families of the boys and told them that as the law stands the driver can be charged only with a misdemeanor but that his office was continuing to investigate the accident. Mr. Brown said there was no aggravating factor such as speeding or running a red light.

– Associated Press

LONG ISLAND

PELOSI SPEAKS OUT ABOUT HIS OWN TRIAL

RIVERHEAD – Danny Pelosi just can’t seem to shut up. The accused murderer whispers to supporters at his trial. He chats with journalists seated behind the defense table. He loudly swaps insults with his father in open court.

And that’s not all. Prosecutors say Mr. Pelosi spoke about killing his lover’s millionaire husband to another girlfriend; to his boss; to a handful of fellow inmates. All are providing damning testimony against the Long Island electrician, who might just talk his way into a life sentence.

“It’s only the second inning. This is a long ball game,” he optimistically declared last week on a day when his ex-girlfriend testified about his loose lips, detailing Mr. Pelosi’s admission of guilt in the brutal slaying.

Mr. Pelosi, 41, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Theodore Ammon, a Manhattan investment banker and chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Ammon was fatally beaten in his East Hampton mansion in October 2001.

In two-plus weeks of testimony, prosecutors have presented scant physical evidence, instead relying on a series of incriminating statements Mr. Pelosi allegedly made over the past three years.

Jurors have already witnessed an outburst by Mr. Pelosi directed at his father – a prosecution witness – and testimony unearthing elements of a Hollywood soap opera: infidelity, greed, paranoia, betrayal.

Ammon,52,was within days of finalizing a bitter divorce with his wife, Generosa Ammon, when he was beaten in the head with a blunt object more than 30 times and suffered fractures to his hands and ribs.

Prosecutors argue that Mr. Pelosi, who was divorced and having an affair with Ammon’s wife, killed the banker because he was upset over her share of a $46 million divorce settlement.

– Associated Press