CITYWIDE

CANDIDATES CRITICIZE BENNETT

Mayor Bloomberg and the Democratic candidate for mayor, Fernando Ferrer, both yesterday criticized an education secretary from the Reagan administration, William Bennett, for his comments on aborting blacks.

Appearing at a Harlem church yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg called Mr. Bennett’s remarks “extremely offensive and disgusting,” saying they have “no place in the civil and free society that we are busy building every day here in New York.” Mr. Ferrer, campaigning on Manhattan’s West Side, said of the comments: “They are very strange. They are very sad.”

“If you wanted to reduce crime, you could – if that were your sole purpose – you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down,” Mr. Bennett said last week on his radio program. The argument that abortion reduces crime is advanced in a best-selling book, “Freakonomics,” by two columnists for the New York Times Magazine, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

PARADE, MOVIE RELEASE, FILMING SLOW TRAFFIC Traffic was slowed yesterday as a series of events overlapped in Midtown. The Pulaski Day Parade, a celebration for Polish Americans that spanned Fifth Avenue from 26th to 52nd streets, ended at about 4 p.m., and while workers cleaned up, a red carpet was being rolled out in front of the Ziegfeld Theater, at 141 W. 54th St.

The theatrics were set up for the release of the “Cinderella” DVD, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, Julianne Cho, said. Other Hollywood action was taking place on Sixth Avenue between 54th and 55th streets for the filming of a new movie, “Hoax,” Ms. Cho said. The neighborhood was also jammed with people making their way through a Seventh Avenue street fair.

“Whatever happened here was a total disaster,” a city resident who was trying to drive through Midtown, John Levin, said. “This was authorized congestion.” Mr. Levin said it took him 40 minutes in the late afternoon to drive up Sixth Avenue from 30th Street to 59th Street. He said that Fifth Avenue was closed from noon to 6:30 p.m. “It was insane.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

POLICE OFFICER EXCHANGES GUNFIRE WITH MAN IN BROOKLYN

A police officer shot several rounds at a man after he allegedly started shooting at the officer. At 12:23 a.m. yesterday, a group of males were kicked out of a christening at 917 Broadway, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The males got into an altercation outside of the building during which a 15-year-old male was shot in the leg, police said.

Police from a housing unit in the area heard the shots and responded. When the officers demanded the suspect drop his weapon, the suspect, 20, instead fired his gun, police said. One police officer, 35, who has nine years’ experience as an officer, fired three times at the suspect, striking him once in the leg and once in the chest, the authorities said.

Four males were taken into custody and an empty five-shot revolver was recovered at the scene, police said. The 15-year-old victim was treated and released from Bellevue Hospital. The 20-year-old suspect was also taken to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition. Police did not release the names of the suspects because they did not officially arrest or charge them.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FOUR TEENS ARRESTED IN STABBING DEATH

Police arrested and charged four teenagers with manslaughter yesterday, a few days after they stabbed five youths, resulting in one death. On Friday at 3:11 p.m., a dispute led to the stabbings in front of School for the Physical City, 55 E. 25th St., where two of the victims – including the one who died – attended school, police said.

The five victims, ranging in age from 15 to 19, were taken to Bellevue Hospital with various injuries. One male, 15, Shariff Lesane, 15, died at the hospital, the authorities said. Police allegedly recovered a metal box cutter at the scene.

Police arrested Jason Procope, 17; Robert Jack, 16; Javon Chavis, 17, and David McKay, 19, on charges of manslaughter and gang assault. None of the suspects attend School for the Physical City, police officials said. All of the suspects have criminal records, police said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun