Cleaner is collared in sex assault

EVEN AT 78 years old Michael Schenkman thought nothing of hopping out of bed, grabbing his bicycle, and riding 20 miles to start his day.

Friends thought the fit greatgrandfather, an avid and accomplished athlete who spent his retirement riding and running, would live to 100.

But it was not to be, and disbelief gave way to grief Wednesday after Schenkman was fatally hit by a car in Queens early Wednesday.

Schenkman, who once worked as a driver for former New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, was pedaling east on Northern Blvd. in Bayside when a black Chevrolet Impala struck him near 223rd St. about 6:30 a.m., police said.

“Everyone loved him,” son Peter Schenkman told the Daily News.

“Good or bad, he died doing what he loved. Every morning he got on his bike and rode 15 or 20 miles.”

Peter Schenkman said his father taught automotive and industrial arts for the Valley Stream school district and owned an automotive shop before working for Gotbaum.

“He was a lovely man and a very careful driver. I’m just very sad,” Gotbaum told The News. She recalled Schenkman, from Flushing, as a valued member of her security detail during her tenure from 2001 through 2008.

“He was vigorous and funny and we had a wonderful time. We all became very close,” she said.

In his retirement, Schenkman focused on fitness, and love.

He married his longtime partner Ann Purdoski, 73, in April.

The pair met when Purdoski was working as a secretary at Schenkman’s Volvo repair shop.

Together they raised five children, and had eight grandchildren and eight great-grandkids.

“We’ve been together 35 years,” Purdoski said Wednesday. “He was a fine father to my daughters.”

Trophies lined the mantle of Schenkman’s Kew Gardens Village home.

He was often the only person in his age group when he participated in marathons and triathalons, Purdoski said.

“He was out bike riding, something he loved,” she said.

The 25-year-old man driving the Impala remained at the scene, cops said. He faced no immediate charges.

The driver is a volunteer EMT, cops told Schenkman’s son.

“My dad was easy to get along with. He was a teacher and loved kids,” Peter Schenkman said. “He was still my best friend.”

Next-door neighbor John McTee, 69, was reeling from the loss. “I can’t believe it,” he said. “Besides riding his bike, he was always at the gym. He was in great shape. We thought he would live to be 100.” A HOUSE cleaner who returned to a client’s Brooklyn apartment, broke in and sexually assaulted the woman sleeping inside is under arrest, police said Wednesday.

Romaric Guiebre, 20, used a spare key he found near the front door of the Bushwick home to get inside, then pointed a gun at the 29-year-old woman and gave her the choice of being killed or attacked, police sources said.

The creep was arrested Tuesday in the July 25 assault, cops said. Guiebre had worked in the woman’s apartment near DeKalb and Wilson Aves. eight days earlier, and at 1:30 a.m., the victim awoke to the sound of the door opening, prosecutors said.

Guiebre grabbed her neck, took out a gun and threatened, “I’m going to kill you,” Assistant District Attorney Tziyonah Langsam said at Guiebre’s arraignment Wednesday.

The sicko then bit her nose, tied her up, blindfolded her with a bedsheet and sexually assaulted her, Langsam said. Before leaving, he allegedly took her debit card and withdrew $400 from her account. Guiebre, a West African native who moved to the United States two years ago, is charged with criminal sexual act and other offenses.

He denies the charges, said his lawyer, Debbie Silberman.

Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson set his bail at $100,000.