MANHATTAN

CHARGE FILED IN DRUG DEATHS OF TEENAGERS

Police have charged 33-year-old Alfredo Morales, who lives at 484 East Houston St., where 18-year-olds Mellie Carballo and Maria Pesantez fell unconscious on Friday evening and later died at Cabrini Hospital, with criminal sale of a controlled substance in connection with Friday’s incident. Police say Mr. Morales gave “a recreational amount” of cocaine to Carballo and Pesantez. He was arraigned yesterday at 100 Centre St.

– Special to the Sun

DRIVER LEADS POLICE ON HIGH-SPEED CHASE

Police attempted to stop two men in a 2005 Toyota Camry without its lights on at 3 a.m. yesterday morning in Harlem, but the driver sped off in an escape attempt that would end in a car crash on Delancey Street, police said. The officers realized the men might be armed and dangerous when they ran the Camry’s plate number and the car came up as stolen and wanted in connection with a July 18 car-jacking and an August 3 purse-snatching. When an officer approached the car, the driver, 23-year-old Jason Bonilla of 6219 10th Ave., Brooklyn, kicked him and then drove off, striking the officer with the car, police said. The driver of the Camry led police on a chase down the FDR Drive, causing a number of fender-benders before the Camry crashed into a taxi. Mr. Bonilla and the passenger, 22-year-old Juan Cordero of 731 59th St., Brooklyn, were arrested. The injured officer was taken to the hospital.

– Special to the Sun

LONG ISLAND

FOURTH SOLDIER FROM LONG ISLAND TOWN IS KILLED IN COMBAT

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. – A 28-year-old American soldier weeks from returning home to his wife and baby daughter was killed in Iraq on Monday, becoming the fourth person from this working-class Long Island community to die in combat in the past three years. The army specialist, Jose Ruiz, was killed in small arms fire in Mosul while escorting a security convoy, his family said. – Associated Press

CITYWIDE

NYPD TURNS TO ARABIC SPEAKERS TO MONITOR TERRORISTS ONLINE

The New York Police Department officers have recruited a team of undercover investigators – born in Muslim countries and fluent in languages like Arabic, Farsi, and Pashto – to surf jihadist Web sites and chat rooms in which suicide bombings and beheadings are celebrated and hatred of the West rages. Their assignment: Pose as Islamic extremists, locate and engage real ones, then extract any shred of information about possible terrorist threats against the city.

– Associated Press

BROOKLYN

MAN QUESTIONED IN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Police have a man in custody in connection with the fatal stabbings of a woman and her 8-year-old child in Coney Island. At 2:37 p.m. yesterday, police received a telephone call that someone was being injured in an apartment on West Fifth Street where the woman, 46, her son, and possibly the suspect, reside, police said. Both victims were allegedly stabbed multiple times.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

CONSERVATIVE PARTY CALLS ON LEGISLATURE TO SUSPEND GAS SALES TAX

Citing a recent spike in gasoline prices, the leader of New York’s Conservative Party yesterday called on the state Legislature to suspend the statewide sales tax on gasoline. The party’s chairman, Michael Long, said the state has benefited financially from its 4% sales tax on gasoline as prices have climbed in recent months and should act to provide relief to consumers.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun