this happened just a few blocks from me,i wish i was there to catch this mean person

A Staten Island judge's tire served as a wheel of fortune for a tiny kitten that was callously tossed by a passing motorist onto Hylan Boulevard during rush hour this morning.



The 3-week-old gray, white and black female Calico was aptly named "Lucky" by Family Court Judge Catherine DiDomenico, who saw the cat get dropped from a pickup truck onto the roadway then she "rolled over" the frightened feline to protect it from oncoming traffic before it crawled into the wheel well of the judge's Chevy where its little leg got stuck.

Two off-duty police officers and an Emergency Services Unit team spent more than two hours rescuing the kitten before she was taken to the Animal Care and Control Facility in Charleston and immediately placed for adoption without as much as a strand of fur out of place.

"I am now convinced that real life is better than fiction," said County Clerk Stephen Fiala, who drove up as the rescue was under way at Hylan Boulevard and Wiman Avenue in Great Kills at about 9 a.m. "This is unreal."

Judge DiDomenico was stopped at a traffic light on her way to her chambers at the Homeport at about 8:45 a.m. when she spotted an arm protrude from the driver's side window of a burgundy pickup truck directly ahead of her car.

"I saw his whole extended arm," the judge said. "He opened his palm, and, plop, out drops what looks like a furry dishtowel. He dropped this thing out of his pickup truck like he was dropping a napkin on a sidewalk."

At first, the judge thought "how terrible" it was that the motorist was littering. "I was driving slowly," Ms. DiDomenico said. "Then I realized it was a living thing."

The judge stopped her car, carefully positioned the vehicle over the kitten to protect it from oncoming traffic, and ignored a screaming motorist suddenly stuck in a stalled traffic lane.

Off-duty police officers Alisha Noel and Amir Zadok, both assigned to Tottenville's 123rd Precinct, were passing by when they saw the congestion and pulled over to help.

Officer Zadok crawled under the judge's car. "He said, 'You're not going to believe this -- this cat is in the wheel well. There's a tail coming out of the wheel well,'" Ms. DiDomenico said.

The kitten had jumped in and got its leg caught in a spring that gives tires flexibility on the road.

Fearing the cat would be harmed if they removed the tire, the officers called a team of Emergency Services Unit police to the scene.

Working carefully, ESU Sgt. Anthony Lisi, Det. Joseph Delre, Det. Robert Brager and Det. Michael Driscoll, along with Capt. Mark C. Molinari, executive officer at St. George's 120th Precinct, spent nearly two and a half hours before finally pulling the kitten unscathed to safety.

Ms. DiDomenico resisted the urge to take the cat home. Her mother died recently, and the judge had already taken in her mother's two dogs to go with the family dog.

But the judge had a name picked out.

"She completely came out without a scratch," the judge said. "That's why I named her Lucky." As for the driver of the truck, Ms. DiDomenico said the arm that dropped the tiny animal in the roadway belonged to a white male driving a burgundy pickup truck.

Police spokesman Det. Joseph Cavitolo said anybody with information on the driver or the burgundy pickup truck is urged to call their local precinct.