Daily News from New York, New York • 13

(eTn(oDs7 CoooirG ltd Sodl MiGo IililllilA PFTH'M By DEAN CHANG four-year veteran from the W. 20th St. stationhouse, was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and was in critical condition after undergoing surgery for severe head and neck Mayor Giuliani, who made two visits to the hospital, said the officer had suffered some HHHEI BUM WILLIAMS DAILY NEWS HINDU TEMPLE in Rushing, Queens, where thousands flocked the past two days to attempt to feed milk to brass statue. 1 I i 1 i 5 Daily News Staff Writer A police officer was battling for his life last night after his squad car was rammed by a postal truck on the West Side yesterday morning.

The car was sent crashing into the corner of a building. Officer David Willis, 31, a V-- -'if iSLStf IJlifsJi "vt. i i I brain damage. "I met with his mother and brother. They're obviously very distraught," the mayor said.

"They were praying. I had a chance to pray with them. He's in the hands of God. Hopefully we'll have a miracle." Willis partner, Officer Robert Avezcano, 30, who was driving the vehicle, was treated for minor injuries. Police said the accident, which occurred at 9:45 a.m.

at the intersection of 11th Ave. and W. 30th is still under investigation. The force of impact propelled Willis from the vehicle, sending him through the passenger window. Witnesses said the horrific sound of the collision and its aftermath are things they will never forget.

"One guy got out, ran to bis partner and started yelling, Oh my God! He's dead! Oh my said Juan Rivera, a security officer for the Sanitation Department The officers were driving south on 11th responding to a 911 call of gunshots. Their lights and sirens were on, according to Police CapL Leonard Sarter. Witnesses said the police car was broadsided by the postal truck, headed east on W. 30th St, which entered the intersection after the traffic light had turned green. It was not known how fast the vehicles were traveling.

The postal truck driver, Carl Maschack, 50, of Brooklyn, also was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital after initially refusing medical attention, and was listed in good condition last night. The severity of the accident stunned police officers in the 10th Precinct, where the two cops work, as well as emergency personnel who responded to the scene. "We're still pretty shook up. We knew the guy personally," said Allen Cruz, an Emergency Medical Service technician who took Willis to the hospital.

"It's a very" scary feeling. The vulnerability sinks in, because you realize that it can happen to any one of us." JON NAM DAILY NEWS iv By DON SINGLETON Daily News Staff Writer Hundreds of devout Hindus gathered in a Queens temple yesterday hoping for their turn to witness the "milk miracle" in which brass statues of the elephant god Ganesh reportedly drank milk. On Friday, thousands of believers lined up with spoons and containers of milk at the Hindu Temple Society of North America, on Bowne St. in Flushing, to try their hand at feeding the 2-foot-tall brass statue of Ganesh. Many left feeling they had experienced the miracle Friday; those yesterday were disappointed.

"People held the spoon filled with milk under the trunk, by the mouth, and the milk would be taken up," said Raman Sundaraman, a volunteer at the temple. "There is obviously some spillage of milk from the spoon, but no more than 20 to 30 was lost The rest was taken up," he said. "At least one teaspoon of milk was fed to the statue by almost 5,000 people." The drinking-statue phenomenon swept India this week, and when news reports reached the Hindu community here, devotees began trying to feed milk to their own statues of Ganesh. "When I put a spoon by the trunk, the whole spoon as not sucked out, but I did feel a little sucking pro cess," said Manhattanite Prahlad Beeramangala, 36, after feeding the statue in his home. But by early yesterday morning, the statue at the Hindu Temple Society had stopped drinking, said Sundaraman, who was not particularly impressed.

"Our interpretation is that these things do happen every day, and is only manifested at this time for people to understand," he said. "In life, things like this happen every day. It's one way of manifestation, that's all." f. i i.w.fr HISHA ERWTTT DAILY NEWS TRAGEDY: Mayor Giuliani (above) arrives at St. Vincent's Hospital to visit Officer David Willis, whose car (top) was broadsided by postal truck yesterday at 11th Ave.

and 30th St. Willis was thrown from car. Fall brrr-f ng cold snap wftiii It Fujian 3 guilty in kidnap Three Fujianese gangsters have been convicted of kidnaping and torturing two immigrant businessmen in an effort to collect a $60,000 ransom, the Queens district attorney said yesterday. The three were found guilty of kidnaping the two men at gunpoint in July 1994, forcing them to strip to their underwear and holding them hostage for nearly 34 hours in a Queens apartment, said District Attorney Richard Brown. While in the apartment, the abductors beat the men and repeatedly threatened to kill them or cut off their fingers, Brown said.

Convicted late Friday were Chen Xiao Liu. 28; Jun Jie Ke, 30; and Shau Chan, 29, all of Queens. They each face possible sentences of 50 years to life at their Oct 25 sentencing in state Supreme Court. Temperatures this morning should be down to around 50 degrees in the metropolitan area. That's 2 degrees cooler than the previous post-Labor-Day low of 52 on Sept.

11, the night when many New Yorkers took their blankets out of mothballs for the first time in months. GET THE FALL STORY The complete weather forecast for the week, plus Gridlock Sam. Forecast Page 43 "But depending on how fast the clouds break up, we could get down into the 40s in Westchester and New Jersey, and parts of North Jersey could get down to the low 30s, with frost in some locations," said meteorologist Ralph Izzo. The rain on Friday and yesterday morning came to .80 inches in Central Park, giving us 23.68 inches for the year. The normal level as of yesterday's date is 34.31 inches, the Weather Service said.

Don Singleton It's fall and winter's already in the air. In fact, the National Weather Service is calling for below-normal, below-freezing temperatures, with frost on the pumpkins, in some of the outlying suburbs this morning. The season of falling leaves officially arrived at 8:13 a.m. yesterday, the moment of the autumnal equinox, when the sun moved from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern for the first time since its last pass on March 20 at 9:14 p.m. co ex.

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