NY, NY (USA) November 2, 2003 -- A veteran Park Avenue doorman on the verge of retirement was mowed down and killed by a taxicab driven by a Ghanaian, that jumped a curb and pinned him against a wall, cops and eyewitnesses said.

The driver was identified by his roommate as Ghana native Ben Otchere-Adjei, 50. He has been a cabby for about 10 years.

Gerald Sadesky, 62, heroically pushed a woman from the taxi's path before being struck, one witness told The Post.

Sadesky, a doorman at 730 Park Ave. for more than 25 years, was slammed by the taxi at about 1 p.m. as he returned to work from a lunch break with friends who work in a building up the block. He was pronounced dead at New York Hospital.

Sadesky was divorced, with two daughters. Residents said he was a movie buff.

The taxi, carrying two passengers, was headed west on West 71st Street when it swerved to avoid a 2004 black Honda Accord driven by Jane Paragon.

"He must have come up from behind me," Paragon was overheard telling authorities. "I didn't even see him."

The taxi clipped her car and careened up onto the sidewalk at the southwest corner, slamming into Sadesky and barely missing others.

Otchere-Adjei was being tested for drugs and alcohol after being treated for a head injury at New York Hospital, cops said.

Both passengers and the driver were treated for minor injuries, police said.

Among the building's residents is "60 Minutes" newsman Mike Wallace, who reacted with shock at the news. Late yesterday, a bouquet of flowers had been placed at the building.

Fellow doormen said Sadesky - a horse-racing aficionado who planned to retire next year - was on his break when he was killed.

Jos? Alvarez, a doorman at 30 East 71st St., said Sadesky saw the cab coming and pushed a woman pedestrian out of the way.

"He basically saved her life," Alvarez said.

Alvarez said Sadesky was shaking uncontrollably and covered with blood.

"Both his legs were gone," he said. "They were splattered all over, destroyed."

Fellow doorman Joey Rudaj said Sadesky was a good friend who often came by to chat. He said he saw Sadesky after the crash.

"He was wide awake. He had both eyes open. I said 'Stay with me, Jerry.' I'm trying to keep him up. He was moaning."

"The thing that got me was that he was trying to pick himself up," Rudaj added. "One leg was completely off, the other was hanging."

Rudaj said Sadesky was looking forward to his retirement.

"He told me: 'I can't wait to get out of the business. I've had enough.' "

Sadesky's building - an 18-story beauty with multimillion-dollar apartments - was at the center of political life for years.

Former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton were frequent guests, and Clinton supporters Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel and Patti Kenner held several fund-raisers there.

Put cabbie in jail, say doorman's kin

"I don't understand why the cab drivers in New York drive so recklessly," said Christine Sadesky, 31, whose father, Gerald Sadesky, was killed in Saturday's grisly accident.

While tests showed no trace of drugs or alcohol in the cab driver's system, Sadesky told the Daily News, "Just because he wasn't intoxicated doesn't mean he shouldn't be held accountable."

Gerald Sadesky, 62, died Saturday when a taxi mounted the sidewalk on E. 71st St. near Park Ave., slamming into him and tearing off one of his legs. He worked as a doorman at a nearby apartment building and was just weeks away from retiring.

Police said the cab driver, Bern Otchere-Adjei, apparently panicked after colliding with a black Honda Accord and hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.

But standing in the driveway of his Union, N.J., home, the visibly shaken Otchere-Adjei told The News he lost consciousness just before the accident.

"I just blacked out," said Otchere-Adjei, 50. "I don't take drugs, and I wasn't drinking. I have a family to take care of."

The driver, a father of four who has driven a cab for 16 years and has an otherwise clean record, said the last thing he remembers is stopping at a red light near the crash site. The next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance.

"I didn't even know I hit someone," said Otchere-Adjei, an immigrant from Ghana. "I am so sorry, but it was an accident."

Police said there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the driver and did not file charges against him.

But at the accident site yesterday, some of Sadesky's friends said the driver should be held legally responsible. Friends visited a makeshift shrine in front of 730 Park Ave., where bouquets of flowers lay for the fallen doorman.

"You don't take somebody's life and call it an accident," said Dolores Ballard, 60, a housekeeper who once worked in the same building as Sadesky, 720 Park Ave. "The man should serve time."

Sadesky's friends and daughters recalled his passion for the Yankees, horse racing and elegant cars - like Jaguars and Mercedes - that were beyond his means. Though he talked of buying a Cadillac with an upcoming bonus, he drove a Ford Taurus.

At 720 Park, Sadesky's daughters Christine and Danielle cleaned out his locker and tried to make sense of their father's death.

"He was just a gentle man - gentle, sweet, caring," said Danielle, 33, a software trainer who lives in Los Angeles.

"He loved the horses, good food, good wine, good cars," she said.

Born in Jersey City to Eastern European immigrant parents, Sadesky initially dreamed of being a department-store window designer, his daughters said. Although he was divorced from their mother 20 years ago, he stayed involved in their lives.

"He always took care of us. For every birthday, Christmas, he always ended up every conversation with, 'I love you,'" Christine, a loan officer from Los Angeles, said as tears streamed down her face.

"Always love your father."