MANHATTAN

JUDGE TO DETERMINE FATE OF PALESTINIAN MISSION TO U.N.

The fate of the Palestinian observer mission to the United Nations at 115 E. 65th St. may hinge on a federal judge’s interpretation of a statute that gives power to the Secretary of State to control the use of foreign mission property.

Lawyers for the estate of terrorist victim Yaron Ungar argued at a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York yesterday that the Foreign Mission Act of 1982 does not preclude a federal court from appointing a receiver to sell the property of the Palestinian mission.

A federal court in Rhode Island last year ordered the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to pay more than $116 million in damages related to the murder of Ungar and his pregnant wife by Hamas terrorists in 1996. Lawyers for Ungar’s estate seek to collect a portion of the damages through the seizure, eviction, and sale of the Palestinian’s Upper East Side townhouse mission, which is said to be worth $10 million.

Federal attorneys have asked a federal judge in New York, Colleen McMahon, not to order the transfer of property because it would violate the Foreign Missions Act and harm American foreign policy interests. The act gives the Secretary of State control of any sale of mission property “by or on behalf of such mission.” Lawyers for the plaintiff argued that the sale would be on behalf of the Ungar family, not the Palestinians, and therefore Secretary of State Rice cannot interfere with a court order evicting the Palestinians from the mission.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WESTCHESTER

PASSENGER BURNED IN CAR ACCIDENT LEAPS INTO RIVER; DRIVER KILLED

WHITE PLAINS – A person who caught fire yesterday in a car crash on the Tappan Zee Bridge jumped into the Hudson River, then was rescued and taken to a hospital, a Westchester County official said.

Another person was killed in the crash, which shut down the Hudson River span for hours before and during the evening rush. Traffic backed up for miles into Westchester and Rockland counties on Interstates 87 and 287.

Susan Tolchin, chief adviser of the Westchester County executive, Andrew Spano, said she was told by emergency workers that the person who jumped was a passenger in a car that had stopped on the Westchester-bound lanes, apparently disabled. A tractor-trailer hit the car from behind, causing a fire that killed the car’s driver, she said. The passenger jumped into the Hudson.

– Associated Press

QUEENS

QUEENS PASTOR SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS’ PROBATION

The former pastor of a Jamaica, Queens, church who pleaded guilty in July to stealing $31,800 of church funds to pay for his car and vacations has been ordered to repay the money and sentenced to five years’ probation. The Reverend Charles Betts’s former administrative assistant, Anna Kilpatrick, and her husband, who have been linked to the scheme, are awaiting trial on charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records.

– Special to the Sun

CRIME BLOTTER

TRAFFIC AGENT STRUCK BY FLEEING MOTOR VEHICLE

A 27-year-old traffic enforcement agent from Long Island City was injured after being struck by a vehicle at an entrance to the FDR Drive, police said.

On Monday at 5:25 p.m., the agent was directing traffic on York Avenue at the 60th Street entranceway to the drive. A vehicle was traveling northbound on York Avenue and approached 60th Street while another vehicle, operated by Mihai Merzianu, 36, was approaching from the south. Mr. Merzianu crossed into oncoming traffic in order to enter the FDR Drive at the 60th Street entrance ramp, police said, and in the process, allegedly crashed head-on into the other vehicle, causing that vehicle to strike the traffic agent. Mr. Merzianu allegedly attempted to flee the scene but only made it to 61st Street, where an off-duty police officer from the traffic control division arrested him.

Police charged Mr. Merzianu with leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving. The traffic agent was taken to New York Cornell Medical Center with a broken leg and hip injuries. Mr. Merzianu and the other driver were taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun