MANHATTAN

LAWYER: RNC PROTESTERS WERE HELD IN ‘LITTLE GUANTANAMO’ Saying New York created its “own little Guantanamo on the Hudson” during the Republican National Convention, a lawyer filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking relief for nearly 2,000 arrested protesters and bystanders. “All that was missing were the orange jumpsuits,” lawyer Jonathan C. Moore said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. “Under the guise of terrorism and the fear of terrorism, we are all losing our rights.” With several plaintiffs behind him, Mr. Moore said the treatment of the protesters and bystanders violated “a bedrock principle of our democracy that the police cannot simply sweep the streets because they find protest inconvenient or embarrassing.” He accused the city of suspending the Constitution and illegally rounding up and detaining hundreds of people “in its single-minded goal to empty the streets of political protest.”The lawsuit seeks class-action status. “Now we see why the rights of those detained in Guantanamo are so important to the rights of all of us,” Mr. Moore said. Advocates for those who broke the law continue to make false allegations about conditions at the facility where prisoners were housed, Police Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said in a statement. He said police installed lighting, ventilation, sanitary facilities, and other amenities, and banned weapons inside.

– Associated Press

ATTORNEY SUBDUED AFTER RUSHING AT JUDGE A lawyer who entered a Manhattan courtroom yelling and cursing without apparent provocation was subdued after a violent struggle and arrested Monday when he allegedly rushed toward the judge who was on the bench. Court officers subdued Jemal Deshong, who will be 29 on Thanksgiving Day, and took him to Bellevue Hospital Center for psychiatric observation, said John McKillop, president of the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association. Mr. Deshong entered Justice Bonnie Wittner’s courtroom on the seventh floor of state Supreme Court around 10:25 a.m. and approached the business area, Mr. McKillop said. He said Mr. Deshong yelled, “I have access! I’m entitled!” and officers told him to sit down. Mr. McKillop said Mr. Deshong began yelling profanities at the court officers and then rushed through the swinging gate into the business well and toward Justice Wittner. He said a struggle began in which Officer Mike Dallo suffered a leg injury and a table was broken. Mr. Dallo was treated by another court officer who has emergency medical training. Mr. Deshong warned the court officers as he was being handcuffed and taken to Bellevue, “You’d better be careful. I’m a lawyer, you know,” Mr. McKillop said. He said Mr. Deshong did have an official card that identifies him as an attorney. Mr. Deshong, who has an office in the Bronx, was charged with criminal contempt, criminal mischief, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, Mr. McKillop said. A call to Mr. Deshong’s office went unanswered.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

SPITZER WILL RUN FOR GOVERNOR, SOURCES SAY Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the state attorney general who has gained national attention battling Wall Street institutions, has begun telling close associates he will run for governor in 2006, one of those who has been told said yesterday. “He’s planning to run. He believes he can turn the state around,” said the fellow Democrat, who spoke only on condition of anonymity. Mr. Spitzer is expected to make his intentions public early next month, said the source. There was no immediate comment from Mr. Spitzer yesterday. Spokesman Darren Dopp said, “Mr. Spitzer will address that issue at the appropriate time and in the appropriate place.” Mr. Spitzer has frequently said he is considering a run for governor and would like the job. He has created a “Spitzer 2006” campaign committee that plans a $1,000-a-person fund-raiser on Dec. 9 in New York City. A potential hurdle facing Mr. Spitzer’s gubernatorial ambition fell by the wayside last week when Senator Schumer, fresh off a record-setting re-election win, announced he would not seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006. Instead, Mr. Schumer has agreed to head the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and will take a seat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Governor Pataki, a Republican, has not yet said if he will seek a fourth, four-year term in 2006. State Democratic Chairman Herman Farrell said yesterday he has not been told by Mr. Spitzer “in those words,” that he would run for governor, but Mr. Farrell said he expects a Spitzer campaign. “I know Eliot is close to a decision and will make an announcement in a couple of weeks,” Mr. Farrell added.

– Associated Press

RIVER REGULATOR’S FINANCES QUESTIONED IN AUDIT A state authority paid one former executive $62,000 for what he estimated was an average of only four hours of work a week and engaged in other questionable fiscal practices, according to an audit by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi released yesterday.

Mr. Hevesi said the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District was also giving full medical, dental, and vision benefits to the five members of its board in apparent violation of the 1959 state law that established the state authority.

His auditors also questioned the payment of $75,000 a year to a former counsel at the regulating district for what the lawyer’s records showed was an average work week of 18 hours. Both the counsel, Utica lawyer Tim Foley, and the secretary-treasurer who collected $62,000 a year, George Scaringe, apparently received full-time credits in the state retirement system for what amounted to part-time work.

Mr. Hevesi called the authority a “very poorly managed” entity that lacked even the most basic fiscal controls on how its $6.8 million annual budget is spent, Mr. Hevesi said. The agency has 27 employees.

“We have no evidence of criminality,” Mr. Hevesi said during a conference call with reporters yesterday. “We have evidence of potential improprieties.”

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

POLICE OFFICER SHOOTS HOMELESS MAN TO DEATH A police officer in East New York shot and killed a homeless man who was assaulting a woman early yesterday morning, police said. At around 6:14 a.m. yesterday on Sutter Avenue two officers in a patrol car saw a 44-year-old homeless man assaulting the 34-year-old woman with a metal light fixture. According to police, when they approached the man, he began to attack the officers. One of the officers fired a round from his service revolver, striking the man in the chest, police said. The man was removed to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. One of the officers was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was treated for trauma.

In a press conference, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the internal investigation of the shooting was going forward.

Council Member Charles Barron, who represents the district where the man was shot, decried the incident as “an abusive use of deadly force.”

“I find it outrageous that two big police officers couldn’t subdue a man who was wielding a light fixture,” Mr. Barron said. “They should have stuck together and disarmed him, rather than taking his life.” According to Mr. Barron, the man was known around the neighborhood as Jose, and local merchants would hire him to clean their storefronts or basements. “This is going to further strain the relations between our community and the police,” Mr. Barron said.

– Special to the Sun

GIRL KILLED CROSSING STREET IN FRONT OF HOME A 12-year-old girl was struck and killed by a livery van in the Rockaway section of Queens yesterday afternoon as she tried to run across the street in front of her house, police said.

The accident occurred at about 4:20 p.m. The young girl, Emani Lewis, was trying to cross north on Rockaway Beach Boulevard. The 1998 Ford van was being driven by 18-year-old Jeremy Mitchell, who tried to swerve into oncoming traffic to miss the young girl,. She was hit by the front passenger side of the vehicle and thrown to the pavement. She was taken to Peninsula General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Mr. Mitchell remained at the scene and was not arrested, but was issued three summonses for driving out of his license class, improper front window tint, and driving a livery vehicle without a hack license.

– Special to the Sun