MANHATTAN

* Two robbers – one brandishing a handgun – entered a Union Square cafe and tied up the employees before escaping with $5,000, police said yesterday. The incident unfolded about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at Au Bon Pain on Union Square East. The thugs announced a robbery, and one pulled a silver handgun, before tying up the employees and making off with the loot. A shaken manager who was closing the store alone last night told The Post: “I just pray to God I’ll be all right.”

* A teacher’s aide at a Washington Heights middle school was arrested yesterday on sex-abuse charges, police said. Two students at IS 90, a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, told authorities that Juan Benitez, 54, of The Bronx, fondled them inside the school. (lcf)

* Cops are investigating a possible bias incident on the Upper East Side where anti-Semitic remarks were sent to a man over the Internet, police said yesterday. The unidentified man reported the incident on Tuesday around 8:30 p.m. after he logged onto the Internet. (m, s)

BROOKLYN

* Cops busted a robbery suspect and are hunting for his two cohorts after they stole cash and jewelry from an Cypress Hills restaurant yesterday and slashed an employee, police said. The violence erupted at around 1:30 a.m. on Fulton Street near Lincoln Avenue, where Rene Perez, 27, and two other suspects – a man and woman – entered Santiago Restaurant and announced a stick-up, police said. The assailants demanded money from one employee, and removed the money and jewels from another worker, Ceaser Garcia. During an ensuing struggle, Perez was stabbed in the arm and chest; Garcia was slashed on the head and finger. Both were taken to an area hospital. Perez was charged with robbery and weapon’s possession.

* A young man was arrested yesterday in the shooting of a 22-year-old man in Boerum Hill. Gamal Jones, also 22, was charged with assault after he shot the victim Monday on Pacific Street near Fourth Avenue, police said. The unidentified victim was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in stable condition.

* The death of a man found in a Sheepshead Bay apartment has been ruled a homicide, the medical examiner said yesterday. The body of John Hennessey, 43, was discovered Tuesday on Emmons Avenue and Batchelder Street where he was lying face up on the bathroom floor with a gunshot wound to his head. A .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol was recovered at the scene.

* A man was found dead yesterday in Brighton Beach. The unidentified body was discovered at about 10 p.m. on Brighton Beach Avenue near Brighton Beach 2nd Street. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

* A car struck and killed a man yesterday in Greenpoint. The unidentified man was crossing the street at around 12:30 a.m. on McGuiness Boulevard and Green Street when a car barreled into him. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

QUEENS

* Taser-wielding thugs, dressed in matching gray jumpsuits and masquerading as cops, stormed into a Rego Park home and handcuffed a man before managing to elude police during a car chase.

Officers had been called to the scene of a burglary-in-progress on 67th Avenue in Rego Park and arrived just as two of the gang members, a man and a woman, were escaping in a Nissan Maxima. The duo, who were wearing police-type shields around their necks, ignored orders to stop.

As squad cars and a police helicopter gave chase, the two threw a 9mm gun, a police scanner, a taser and a pair of handcuffs out of the window and sped away. A handcuffed man was found in the home. Sources said it may have been a dispute over drugs.

* The death of a Flushing man who was assaulted has been reclassified a homicide, police said yesterday. On Monday, Jang Kim, 54, was attacked by Kwang Chon, 49, on Bowne Street near Franklin Avenue and suffered three broken ribs and a punctured lung, cops said. Jang was taken to Flushing Hospital, where he died Tuesday from his injuries. After the incident, Chon was originally charged with assault, but a spokesman for the Queens DA said that criminal charges had been deferred pending an ongoing investigation.

* A police officer shot a German shepherd in Far Rockaway early yesterday after the animal lunged at him. At about 1 a.m., cops responded to a call of a vicious dog on Ostand Place near New Haven Avenue. The officer, who was uninjured, fired a bullet into the dog’s leg. Emergency Service Units also responded and shot the dog with a tranquilizer dart. The dog was taken to the Center of Animal Care and Control for evaluation.

THE BRONX

* Cops are hunting for a gun-toting thief who tied up and robbed an 84-year-old woman in her Parkchester home. The assailant knocked on her door at about 5:30 p.m. on Unionport Road near Guerlain Street and the victim let him in after he pulled a gun. He then bound the woman and fled with $800. The victim, whose name was not released, was treated for bruises at Einstein Hospital.

* A drug suspect escaped from police custody in the South Bronx yesterday – the 31st reported case this year. William Allen, 22, slipped away from cops at around 8:30 p.m. on Sherman Avenue and 161st Street while being transported to Bronx Central Booking, police said. Allen surrendered at central booking about three hours later.

* Two children, a school aide and a bus driver suffered minor injuries yesterday when the bus overturned on the Hutchinson River Parkway and skidded about 100 yards on its side, police said. The bus was heading south on the parkway about 4 p.m. when two cars collided near East Tremont Ave. One of the cars caromed into the bus, causing it to overturn and skid about 100 yards, police said.

STATEN ISLAND

* Cops swooped down on a Rosebank warehouse yesterday and arrested a man in a huge counterfeiting operation. Yin Yu, 70, of Brooklyn, was collared at about 7:15 p.m. when cops executed a search warrant at a warehouse on White Street and Maryland Avenue, police said. Police recovered about $750, 13,800 counterfeit DVD movies, 83,600 music CDs and numerous counterfeit handbags. Yu was charged with trademark counterfeiting.