MANHATTAN:

A masked intruder threw an elderly priest to the ground yesterday after the clergyman caught him lurking inside a SoHo friary, police said.

The 73-year-old retired priest, who sources identified as Louis Troaino, had just returned from eating lunch with fellow clergymen in a basement cafeteria just before 1 p.m. when he encountered the man in a second floor hallway of the Padua Friary at 151 Thompson St.

Troaino, who had been distributing mail to bedrooms on the floor, asked him what he was doing there. That’s when, without a word, the stranger threw him to ground and fled.

Troaino was treated at the scene for minor injuries. Nothing was stolen during the bizarre encounter.

The death of a man last year from complications of a decade-old assault has been declared a homicide, police said yesterday. A bloodied Anthony Sylvester, 33, was discovered in a vacant lot on E. 124th Street Oct. 20, 1993. He had been beaten with a two-by-four studded with nails.

Sylvester died on Oct. 29, 2003 after living in a vegetative state for nearly ten years. On Jan. 22, the Medical Examiner declared his death a homicide.

BRONX:

A 49-year-old man was busted yesterday on charges of exposing himself to three middle school girls over the last six weeks, cops said.

Milton Mendoza exposed himself to a 12-year-old and two 13-year-olds as he sat in his car outside Middle School 143 on West 233d Street, cops said. The principal notified the 50th Precinct on Tuesday and undercover cops went to the school yesterday, armed with a description of Mendoza’s car.

They saw the vehicle parked in front of a fire hyrant 100 feet from the school and walked over to Mendoza. As they did, one of the victims told the principal, “The police are talking to the guy who exposed himself to me,” officials said.

Mendoza was arrested by Sgt. Andrei Giglevitch and charged with three counts of public lewdness.

A baby girl died shortly after her after her grandmother discovered her unconscious – head first in a bucket of water – in her High Bridge apartment, police said yesterday.

Cops are investigating, but their initial probe indicates the death of the one-year-old, in her apartment on University Avenue Wednesday, was the result of a tragic accident rather than a cime.

She was taken to Bronx Lebanon Hospital where she died at 6:03 p.m. The exact cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner’s Office following an autopsy.

QUEENS:

An Elmhurst woman was stabbed by her landlord’s ex-husband during a vicious fight, police said yesterday.

Ho Chi Hsuing wounded the woman in the neck and torso during the fight in a building on 57th Avenue just before midnight Wednesday, cops said.

Ho, of Flushing, was arrested and the victim was taken to Elmhurst General hospital in stable condition, authorities said.

BROOKLYN:

An ex-con jumped out a sixth floor window yesterday trying get away from cops who came to his East New York apartment to pick him up on a parole warrant, police said.

Thomas Sanders, 23, landed on the ground behind his building at 807 Schenck Avenue in the Boulevard Housing project after he leapt from his rear window at 7:19 a.m., cops said.

Sanders, who had served time on a drug conviction, was taken to Brookdale Hospital with hip and leg injuries, according to authorities.

A battered body was found in a vacant lot in Bedford Stuyvesant early yesterday.

The unidentified man, described as being in his forties, was discovered laying face up in a lot adjacent to 360 Stockton Street at 2:30 a.m.

It is unclear how the man died, but authorities said he had suffered trauma to his face and head. A cause of death will be determined after the Medical Examiner performs an autopsy.

A 19-year-old man was shot on a Crown Heights street, police said yesterday.

The victim – whose name was withheld – was on Bergen St. when he was shot in his right hand at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, cops said.

He was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.

A 25-year-old man suffered a graze wound when he was shot in front of a Bedford Stuyvesant building, police said yesterday. The shooting took place on Hancock Street at 10:45 p.m. Wednesda.

The victim was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.