POLICE BLOTTER

TEACHER, INSPIRATION FOR ‘SIMPSONS’ CHARACTER, CHARGED WITH ABUSE

A fifth-grade teacher, who was the inspiration for Dolph, one of the characters on “The Simpsons” was arrested yesterday for sexually abusing three students at P.S. 123 in Brooklyn. The teacher, Dolph Timmerman, allegedly touched the rears of three 10-year-old girls yesterday afternoon. The police were called yesterday after the girls reported the incident to a guidance counselor at the school in Bushwick. Mr. Timmerman was hired by the Department of Education last September. “He is reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation,” a spokesman for the Department of Education, Keith Kalb, said. Mr. Timmerman is reportedly the childhood friend of “Simpsons” creator, Matt Groening.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TRANSPORTATION WORKER ARRESTED FOR BRIBERY

A former Department of Transportation worker has been arrested for trying to bribe a drug-testing agent to alter her test results, the city’s Department of Investigation said yesterday. Cynthia Mendez, 36, of Queens, allegedly offered $1,000 to a worker at Randall Medical Center, a DOT subcontractor for drug and alcohol testing, in April 2005. The employee refused, and subsequently reported Ms. Mendez, the DOI reported. She could face seven years in prison if convicted.

– Special to the Sun

MAN SHOT BY OFFICERS SAID EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED

Police said the 24-year-old Bronx man who slashed several relatives before police shot and killed him Sunday, Michael Harris, had stopped taking his anti-psychotic drugs prior to the attack.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

PSYCHIATRIST SAYS NICOLE DUFRESNE SLAY SUSPECT IS FIT FOR TRIAL

The man accused of fatally shooting actress Nicole duFresne during a street robbery is faking mental illness by claiming to see a “giant marshmallow man” and other visions but is fit for trial, a psychiatrist testified yesterday.

– Associated Press

JUNIOR GOTTI RETURNS TO COURT FOR RETRIAL ON RACKETEERING

John “Junior” Gotti, who insists he quit the mafia family run by his late father, the “Dapper Don,” watched jury selection start yesterday at his racketeering retrial. The most serious charge facing Gotti is the 1992 kidnapping of radio host Curtis Sliwa.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

FORMER PENTAGON OFFICIAL EYEING CLINTON CHALLENGE

A former top Defense Department official under President Reagan, Kathleen Troia McFarland, said yesterday she is considering jumping into the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Clinton’s bid this year for a second term.

– Associated Press

COURT SAYS TRIAL AGAINST FORMER ASSEMBLYMAN CAN GO FORWARD

The state’s highest court yesterday ruled that the third corruption trial against the former head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Clarence Norman Jr., can go forward.

– Associated Press

DEMOCRATIC INFIGHTING OVER CHALLENGER TO REP. JOHN KOHL

Retired Navy vet Eric Massa has generated a lot of headlines as a Democrat trying to unseat Rep. John Kuhl this year, but some party big wigs are apparently pushing for a candidate with more cash. Two Rochester-area labor leaders said yesterday that Rep. Louise Slaughter has privately urged them to drop their support for Mr. Massa and back instead David Nachbar, a Bausch & Lomb executive new to the race.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

SAILOR KILLED IN IRAQ

NEWARK VALLEY – A 25-year-old sailor from the Southern Tier has been killed in Iraq, the Department of Defense reported yesterday. Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Wilson of Newark Valley died Sunday from an improvised explosive device in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Three, based in San Diego, Calif. Wilson is a 1998 graduate of Newark Valley High School.

– Associated Press

JUDGE DISMISSES CLASS-ACTION CLAIMS IN RACIAL PROFILING CASE

ALBANY – A judge yesterday dismissed class-action claims that police violated the rights of black people questioned during a 1992 hunt for a knife-wielding assailant who authorities believed was a black man.

– Associated Press