Hometown boy makes good, the kind of story Hollywood loves.

A short skate from the movie capital, Evan Lysacek, an Illinois native now ensconced in Los Angeles, became the first American in 13 years to win the World Figure Skating Championship. He did it thanks to a spectacular free skate last night.

"Well, tonight I wasn't thinking about winning, I wasn't even thinking about medaling." Lysacek said. "I just wanted to skate well for my hometown crowd of L.A."

Skate well? He nearly blew the roof off the Staples Center. Lysacek became the first U.S. skater since Todd Eldredge in 1996 to take the world crown. He previously won bronze medals in 2005 and 2006 and was fourth at the 2006 Olympics.

Canada's Patrick Chan took the silver and 2007 world winner Brian Joubert of France, the short program leader, slipped to third.

The top two Americans, Lysacek and Brandon Mroz (ninth), finished high enough to secure three spots at next year's Vancouver Olympics.

Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agoswon the original dance with a perky performance straight out of 1920s. That drew them closer to the leaders from Russia, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, as both couples pursue their first world title.

NFL

TEXAN STOPPED FROM SEEING DYING MOTHER

A police officer was placed on administrative leave yesterday over a traffic stop involving an NFL player whom he kept in a hospital parking lot and threatened to arrest while his mother-in-law died inside the building.

Officer Robert Powell also drew his gun during the March 18 incident involving Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats in the Dallas suburb of Plano, police said.

"I can screw you over," he said at one point in the videotaped incident. When another officer came with word that Moats' mother-in-law was indeed dying, Powell's response was: "All right. I'm almost done."

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle apologized to the family and announced that Powell would be on paid leave pending an internal investigation.

TENNIS

SERENA IS WTA'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Serena Williams has been voted the WTA Tour player of the year for the second time it was announced last night at the awards dinner in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Williams also received the award for 2002. She won the U.S. Open in September and ended last year ranked No. 1.

Dinara Safina was selected most improved player for 2008, and Zheng Jie was chosen comeback player of the year. Top-ranked Cara Black and Liezel Huber were chosen doubles team of the year for the second time.

Caroline Wozniacki was selected newcomer of the year. Ana Ivanovic was chosen humanitarian of the year for her work and contributions to UNICEF, and Elena Dementieva was honored with the Karen Krantzcke sportsmanship award.