May 8, 1998

Controversial practice called racial 'profiling' appears to be central to investigation into incident in which New Jersey state troopers pulled over four young minority men on New Jersey Turnpike in Washington Township on April 23; before incident was over, troopers had fired 11 shots into van, wounding three of passengers, two seriously; John Hogan, one of troopers involved in incident, has made at least 19 arrests as result of traffic stops that defense lawyers say were based on racial profiling of Hispanic or black drivers; Danny Reyes, Keshon Moore, Rayshawn Brown and Leroy Grant were young men in van; Reyes was shot four times and remains hospitalized with serious injuries; Grant was shot in knee; photos (M)

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column on Indiana Pacers 85-77 victory over New York Knicks in Game 2 of Eastern Conference semifinal series; notes that Knicks center Patrick Ewing, who played in his first game in nearly five months after breaking his wrist, scored 10 points and looked rusty; photo (M)

Daimler-Benz chmn Jurgen E Schrempp and Chrysler chmn Robert J Eaton publicly outline plans for their corporate marriage, news conf, London; as they share their visions of global automotive powerhouse, full range of challenges and uncertainties ahead becomes vividly clear, both for companies and rest of automotive industry; even though no jobs are expected to be lost, Chrysler workers at home react with mix of shock and anxiety over prospect that their company, a champion of 'Buy American' movement, would now answer to German parent to be called DaimlerChrysler; mechanics of Daimler's acquisition, tax-free stock swap, could face significant regulatory obstacles; new company would have 420,000 workers and $130 billion in sales (M)

Vickers PLC accepts $710 billion takeover bid from Volkswagen AG for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, just eight days after it embraced lower offer from rival, BMW AG; new bid may be challenged by BMW; chart (L)

American cars are given chrome trim again in reaction to understated monotone look of recent years; Ford leads the way; photos of some fancy trim on Lincolns and other luxury models (S)

Indiana Pacers defeat New York Knicks, 85-77, and take 2-0 lead in NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series; Patrick Ewing, out for nearly five months with broken wrist, returns to action and scores 10 points; photos (M)

Comment on mystery of what killed artificial turf at Giants Stadium; brand-new $1.2 million artificial turf that was installed in February of 1997 was eaten up within months; no one knows cause: a fungus, or a growth or a chemical reaction, or all three; it turned portions of green plastic field black, then blue; eventually Astroturf disintegrated; team of experts never identified exact cause, except to say that mysterious substance leached onto artificial turf from grass field that had been perched above it so MetroStars could play 16 soccer games there last summer; Scott Clark, whose company installed artificial turf, comments; drawings show how real grass is installed over artificial turf for soccer games; photo of Clark (L)

European govts, increasingly frustrated by rising volume of American cigarettes smuggled into Europe, decide to turn to Washington for help in investigating suspected involvement of American tobacco companies, starting with R J Reynolds Tobacco Co; it will be first time for Eureopean Union to formally request help from United States Govt in combatting illicit cigarette trade, and arises out of a conviction that American tobacco companies are in complicity (M)

Merger of Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp is latest example of companies choosing to enter new market by merging or acquiring company already there; Security Data Co says cross-border deals--in which a company in one country acquires a company in another--completed last year totaled $320.5 billion, or more than double their value of $132.3 billion in 1994; huge problems that often occur in cross-border deals discussed; chart (L)

Ben Brantley reviews Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Follies, 1971 musical by Stephen Sondheim, starring Ann Miller; photos (M)

US Senate votes 97-0 for legislation to overhaul Internal Revenue Service and make it more friendly to citizens; acts after hearing horror stories from taxpayers about tax code's ever-increasing complexity; bipartisan display reflects widespread perception that tax-collection agency needs to be reined in, as well as reality that a vote against bill would be a political loser in Congressional election year; legislation would create an independent board to oversee IRS, establish independent taxpayer advocate, move responsibility for investigations of internal agency wrongdoing to Treasury Dept and, in host of narrow ways, give taxpayers more rights and powers in disputes (M)

Global auto industry is increasingly divided into two tiers, as half-dozen giant companies prosper while many of their smaller rivals struggle to manage heavy debts or afford ever-rising cost of designing new cars; with pending completion of acquisition of Chrysler Corp by Daimler-Benz AG, each of world's three major auto-producing regions will have two successful, global auto makers; Toyota and Honda are thriving in Japan; General Motors and Ford are enjoying record profits in US; Volkswagen and new DaimlerChrysler will be strongest auto makers based in Europe; smaller auto makers, such as Nissan, Mitsubishi, Kia, Daewoo, Fiat, BMW, Renault, Peugeot and Volvo, are fighting for survival; graph; map (L)