Doctor: Fake firefighter tried suicide

A writer accused of posing as a city firefighter and sexually abusing a woman told a psychiatrist that he tried to hang himself in jail, the doctor testified Wednesday.

Dr. Li-wen Lee, testifying at a hearing on whether Peter Braunstein is fit for trial, said the defendant reported the suicide attempt in March at Bellevue Hospital Center.

Braunstein, 42, is accused of posing as a firefighter and holding and sexually abusing a 34-year-old former co-worker in her Manhattan apartment for 13 hours starting on Halloween night 2005.

He was on the run for six weeks before being captured in Tennessee. He stabbed himself in the neck several times in an apparent suicide attempt as a policeman approached while pointing a gun at him.

Braunstein has pleaded not guilty to arson, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, sexual abuse and assault.

State Supreme Court Justice James Yates must decide whether to hold a trial within the next couple of weeks or grant defense lawyer Robert C. Gottlieb's request to delay Braunstein's trial for about six weeks on medical grounds.

Lee testified that she saw no medical reason Braunstein could not participate in a trial and return to Bellevue, where he has been since he was moved from Elmhurst Hospital on March 10.

A bearded Braunstein sat in the courtroom, handcuffed to a wheelchair. He was dressed in jail garb and said nothing during the hearing.

A report dated March 7, when Braunstein was moved from the Rikers Island jail to Elmhurst Hospital, said he was bleeding from his ears when admitted to the hospital and has three skull fractures and bleeding on the brain, Gottlieb said.

These injuries cause him severe headaches, and the drugs he takes for pain, mood swings and high blood pressure leave him "zoned out," Gottlieb said.

Braunstein's injuries were self-inflicted, prosecutor Maxine Rosenthal said. Correction officers said he deliberately banged his head on a sink, she said.