POLICE BLOTTER

POLICE WOUND MAN WHO IS WANTED FOR HOMICIDE

Police officers were involved in a dangerous round of draw that left a man wanted for homicide in New Jersey with a bullet wound to the abdomen early yesterday morning, officials said. The officers had pulled over on the Martin Luther King Expressway in Staten Island to assist a man whose Ford Contour had broken down. A truck from Staten Island Tow Company was already there and was arranging for it to be towed to its garage. One of the officers noticed that the truck didn’t have a permanent license plate and asked the driver, identified as Donald Johnson, 22, for his license, which he didn’t have. He gave them a New Jersey identification card instead, and the officers ran it through the computer. The name was flagged for a warrant, but the computer didn’t say what for, police said. The officers asked the man to get out of the car. As police got closer, one officer heard the racking of the slide on a 9 mm handgun, police said. The officers pulled their guns, and after Mr. Johnson made a move, one of them fired a single shot into the open door of the truck, hitting him in the lower abdomen. Mr. Johnson was listed in stable condition at St. Vincent’s Hospital last night. He was charged with criminal possession of a loaded firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and resisting arrest.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FLOOD FORCES EVACUATION OF MARCEL HOTEL

Guests at a boutique hotel in Manhattan were evacuated early yesterday morning after the weekend’s heavy rain and wind caused flooding. More than 130 guests were forced out of the Marcel Hotel on East 24th Street after a piece of the roof was badly damaged by the weather, causing flooding on the seventh floor, employees at the hotel said. The 98-room hotel will be closed while the leak is repaired, the CEO of the Amsterdam Hospitality Group, which owns the hotel, George Dfonye, said at a press conference yesterday. A Fire Department spokesman said firefighters evacuated nearly 300 people after the leak was reported shortly after 1 a.m. No one was injured. Guests at the Marcel – which was nearly three-quarters full Saturday night – were put up in other New York City hotels also owned by the Amsterdam Hospitality Group.

– Special to the Sun

MAN FOUND STABBED TO DEATH IN PROSPECT PARK

A man found stabbed to death in Prospect Park in Brooklyn was identified yesterday as a 61-year-old Brooklyn man, police said. The body of William Oliver was found late Saturday afternoon after police received a call that an unconscious man was inside Prospect Park near Grand Army Plaza, police said.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

THREE GAS STATIONS SUED IN CLAIMS OF PRICE GOUGING

ALBANY – Three gas stations across the state are accused of jacking up the cost of a typical fill-up immediately after Hurricane Katrina. New York’s attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, is suing the Penn-Can Truck Stop Mobil in Central Square, Oswego County; My Service Station in New Rochelle, Westchester County, and Schaghticoke Mobil in Rensselaer County. The stations were notified of the civil lawsuits beginning Friday. If found liable, the stations could face penalties based on excess profits. Mr. Spitzer said the stations increased their at-the-pump prices by 25% to 72% for gas already in their holding facilities. He said the Oswego station increased the pump price by 19 cents a gallon, the Westchester station increased its price by 32 cents; and the Rensselaer County station increased its price by 90 cents a gallon.

– Associated Press

JUDGE: NOT UNREASONABLE FOR CITY WORKERS TO SURF WEB

Saying surfing the Internet is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet. An administrative law judge, John Spooner, reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work. The ruling came after Mayor Bloomberg fired a worker in the city’s legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

PHILHARMONIC TOPS iTUNES CHART

The New York Philharmonic has hit no. 1 on the charts – the iTunes chart, that is. About 2,000 downloads of the Philharmonic’s first digital release have been sold on the online service, Crain’s New York Business reports in this week’s issue. The Philharmonic’s recording of a February 9-14 performance of Mozart’s Symphonies nos. 39, 40, and 41, priced at $9.99, topped the iTunes classical list and was second in overall sales in the first week after its March 28 release. Beating out stars such as the Black Eyed Peas and Madonna, the album’s sales far exceeded expectations, officials told Crain’s.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BLOOMBERG MOVES TO TARGET COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENTS

Mayor Bloomberg may soon be targeting community benefits agreements, the lucrative payment deals that developers have agreed to with local leaders to assuage public opposition to major projects. An administration official told Crain’s New York Business this week that the mayor is evaluating the agreements and may unveil a policy on how they should be negotiated. The New York Yankees recently signed a community benefits package with Bronx leaders involving their plans for a new stadium, leading Queens lawmakers to demand a similar pact from the New York Mets on a proposed replacement for Shea Stadium.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

STRENGTH OF CLINTON, SPITZER MAY LIFT DEMOCRATS ACROSS STATE

The Democrats’ prospects for winning control of the House of Representatives in November may rest with two high-powered New York politicians who aren’t even running for seats: Senator Clinton and Eliot Spitzer. Mrs. Clinton, who’s likely to win easy re-election to the Senate, and Mr. Spitzer, the state attorney general who is leading in polls to become the next governor, might help the Democrats pick up as many as six New York congressional seats – more than one-third of the 15 they need nationally to gain a House majority. The two are so strong politically that they may lift Democratic candidates across the state, the director of the Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, Lee Miringoff, said.

– Bloomberg News