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.

CITYWIDE
STUDENTS FILE SUIT ALLEGING ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL CALLED THEM ANIMALS
Haitian students, along with their parents, filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the city and a former assistant principal who allegedly called the 12 children “animals” and made them eat their lunch with their hands while sitting on a cafeteria floor after a pushing incident between students earlier this year. Because it is a federal lawsuit, no amount of damages is specified, though a jury may eventually award damages to the 12 students from P.S. 34 in Queens. The United States Department of Education is investigating the incident. The former assistant principal, Nancy Miller, has since been demoted to the title of “teacher,” though she is not involved in classroom duties.
– Special to the Sun
TLC VOTES TO APPROVE HYBRID TAXIS
The Taxi and Limousine Commission voted unanimously yesterday to approve gasoline electric hybrid cars to be used as taxis within the next 30 days and will make 300 more taxi medallions available for cabs that use hybrid models. Though the cars are expected to cost more than the Ford Crown Victoria widely in use, rising gas prices may eventually save money for cab drivers who purchase the fuel-efficient cars. The commission discussed but did not vote on the issue of adding a surcharge to taxi fares to combat the rapid spike in gas prices. A fare increase last year included a price cushion to account for increased gas prices.
– Special to the Sun
BROOKLYN
MAYOR OPENS OFFICE TO REACH OUT TO ORTHODOX JEWISH VOTERS
Mayor Bloomberg opened a 4,000 square foot office in Boro Park last night as part of a major new effort to reach out to Orthodox Jewish voters. The push for Jewish votes will be led by City Council member, Simcha Felder, who yesterday endorsed Mr. Bloomberg and was named a campaign co-chairman. Mr. Felder will reach out to traditionally observant neighborhoods in the five boroughs by distributing Yiddish, Hebrew, and English campaign literature, posting multilingual campaign signs in kosher stores, and ensuring that students studying at out-of-town yeshivas receive absentee ballots. “In most of these neighborhoods, these people don’t watch TV, don’t read the papers,” Mr. Felder said, adding that the outreach, which will feature “Mike is a Mensch” balloons and campaign-themed cookies, would help boost turnout.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
BAR SAYS SAMPSON ‘NOT APPROVED’ TO BE DA
Brooklyn district attorney candidate John Sampson is “not approved” to be the top prosecutor of Kings County, according to an evaluation by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Mr. Sampson, a state senator from East Flatbush, was the only candidate in the bitterly contested Democratic primary race who did not receive approval from the New York City Bar, whose judgments about qualifications are recommendations to voters and do not disqualify candidates. The bar announced its evaluation less than a week before the September 13 primary. Mr. Sampson, who was elected to the Senate in 1996, has the least criminal trial experience of the candidates, which are the four term incumbent Charles “Joe” Hynes; Eliot Spitzer’s former chief corruption prosecutor, Mark Peters; and a former assistant district attorney and deputy police commissioner, Arnold Kriss. The issues raised by the bar association were not “relevant,” a Sampson campaign official told The New York Sun. Mr. Sampson won approval from the Brooklyn Bar Association.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
POLICE BLOTTER
OFFICERS FRESH TO POLICE FORCE SAVE BABY FROM ATTACKER
Two relatively new police officers had an opportunity to save a baby’s life in Washington Heights. On Wednesday around 5 p.m., a nanny, 20, was pushing 10-month-old Isabel in a stroller on 171st Street and Fort Washington Avenue when a man approached and stabbed the baby one time in the torso, police said.
Police officers Victor Matos, 31, and Maria Franco, 28, were on patrol when a man in a vehicle flagged them down, the officers said yesterday. The officers said they found the nanny in a car, clutching the diaper-clad baby. “She was very concerned about the child,” Ms. Franco, who has been a police officer for three years, said. Ms. Franco grabbed Isabel, passed her to her partner, Mr. Matos, who has been an officer for two years, and told him to run. With Ms. Franco clearing the way, Mr. Matos sprinted one long block to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center with Isabel in his arms. Bernard Derr, 48, was arrested in connection with the crime.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
MANHATTAN
ONE DEAD, 67 HOMELESS AFTER FIRE
The residents of a six-story apartment building at 964 Amsterdam Ave. were awakened early yesterday by smoke from a blaze that would consume their building, leave one resident dead, eight injured, and at least 67 homeless. At 2:52 a.m., firefighters received a 911 call and rushed to vacate the burning building and fight the blaze that began outside among debris at the rear of the building, according to Fire Department spokesman, Jim Long. One resident died, three suffered second-degree burns, and five had other minor injuries, Mr. Long said. The injured residents, some of whom had to be carried out of the building, were treated at St. Luke’s Hospital, and eight firefighters with minor injuries were taken to Cornell Hospital.
– Special to the Sun
ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGE CANNOT BE USED IN NORMAN TRIAL
Justice Martin Marcus ruled today that the prosecution in the trial of Brooklyn Assemblyman and Democratic party leader Clarence Norman Jr., cannot use an allegedly intimidating recorded phone message that Mr. Norman left on the answering machine of a lead witness in the trial because it might prejudice the jury.
– Special to the Sun
STATEWIDE
WILLIAM ‘CALL ME MISTER’ WELD
The former Massachusetts governor, William Weld, said yesterday that he doesn’t want to be addressed as “Governor Weld” anymore – unless he wins New York’s gubernatorial election next year. “I plan to run as ‘Mister,’ if I can make that stick, to emphasize that I’ve got to earn this,” Mr. Weld said after his first meeting with state Republican party officials vetting the candidates.
– Associated Press