CITYWIDE

School Employee Fighting for Job

Toquir Choudhri made headlines in the spring when he got fired from the city school system for surfing the Internet for personal use during his workday. Now, he’s asking a state judge to force the city to overturn Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s decision and rehire him, claiming Mr. Klein’s punishment “shocks the conscience.” A city hearing examiner ruled in the spring that Mr. Choudhri should receive only a reprimand, but Mr. Klein ignored the advisory opinion and dismissed him anyway. Mr. Choudhri’s lawyer, Solomon Rosengarten, said it’s highly rare for a department head to flout a hearing examiner, and that his client has a 14-year record of spotless service. A Department of Education spokesman, Keith Kalb, said, “The chancellor’s decision speaks for itself.” A hearing is scheduled for October 5 at the Supreme Court on Centre Street. Mayor Bloomberg and his administration have been famously intolerant of slacking off on the job: The mayor fired a city worker in Albany after he spotted Solitaire on his computer, and Mr. Klein dismissed two veteran Brooklyn carpenters caught loafing in a car instead of working in 2002 — a firing that an appeals court overturned in May.

— Special to the Sun

Bronx Street Renamed For Police Officer

Mayor Bloomberg and the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, presided over an emotional ceremony yesterday to rename a Bronx street for a detective who was shot to death while he tried to stop a burglary near his home in December. Arnow Place in Pelham Bay was renamed Detective Daniel Enchautegui Way. Police say Enchautegui, then a three-year veteran of the force, responded to a burglary in his neighbor’s home while he was off duty. He was shot when he confronted the burglars, but he managed to shoot the men despite his injury, allowing police to capture them. Steven Armento and a former “Sopranos” star, Lillo Brancato, are charged with Enchautegui’s murder.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

Police Seek Source Of Fentanyl-Laced Heroin

Police are investigating the sources of fentanyl-laced heroin, after the Health Department reported yesterday that at least 17 New Yorkers have died from fentanyl-related overdoses since May. Nationwide, more than 500 deaths have been attributed to the prescription painkiller, which is 50 — 80 times stronger than morphine. Health Department officials said yesterday that the New York City deaths were not isolated to any community, and were caused by accidental overdoses of heroin or cocaine-laced with the painkillers. The individuals may not have been aware that the drugs they purchased were laced with fentanyl, officials said. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in most of the cases, the fentanyl was manufactured illicitly outside of legitimate pharmaceutical laboratories. “Detectives are making special efforts to identify the sources of heroin mixed with fentanyl,” Mr. Kelly said.

— Special to the Sun

Man Dies of Possible Drug Overdose

A 63-year-old man was found dead yesterday, after a possible drug overdose in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx. Police said the man was found around 6:50 a.m. and was discovered unconscious and lying in the third-floor stairwell of an apartment building on Rosedale Avenue. The victim, who was not identified pending family notification, was pronounced dead at the scene. He had no visible injuries, police said. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.

— Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

Lawsuit Involving McCall Dismissed

A New York State judge dismissed a civil lawsuit that former New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso had brought against H. Carl McCall, a former Big Board director and one-time New York State comptroller. The suit was part of an ongoing legal battle between Mr. Grasso and the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, who is suing Mr. Grasso for receiving allegedly excessive pay as head of what was then a not-for-profit exchange.

Mr. Grasso, who left the Big Board in 2003, says he is still due more than $50 million from the exchange. The 60-year-old former Big Board boss filed a countersuit against Mr. Mc-Call, arguing that since Mr. McCall headed the exchange compensation committee when Mr. Grasso’s last employment contract was approved, Mr. McCall should be partly to blame if a court determined that the pay package was indeed inappropriate. In an 11-page decision, New York Judge Charles E. Ramos said Mr. McCall couldn’t be held responsible for Mr. Grasso being excessively compensated if a judge or jury comes to that conclusion. Mr. Grasso plans to appeal the McCall ruling, according to Gerson Zweifach, one of his lead attorneys on the case.

— Associated Press

Spanish Tourists Caught Smuggling Ecstasy at JFK

Tourists have smuggled $4.3 million worth of Ecstasy pills into the country in false-bottomed suitcases, raising concern about a new surge of the illicit drug from Europe rather than across the United States’ northern and southern borders, customs officials said. Since early July, authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport have seized 77 pounds of the tablets, more than 170,000 of them, and have arrested seven people, all identified as Spanish citizens, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Lucille Cirillo said yesterday. Three suspects were arraigned before U.S. District Court Magistrate Joan Azrack in Brooklyn on Monday, charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. They were held without bail. The three had arrived at JFK on a flight from Germany on Saturday and were found to have luggage with false bottoms containing Ecstasy, Mr. Cirillo said. The other four suspects had arrived in New York since July 9 and were arraigned on similar charges. All were traveling as tourists on Spanish passports. “These recent seizures (at JFK) demonstrate the cyclical nature of supply and demand in the narcotics trade,” she said.

— Associated Press