December 2, 2007 -- Red hawk down!
A bird of prey tumbled off the roof of a Bronx housing project Tuesday - after what was suspected to be an attack by a person - and plummeted nearly 20 stories, only to be struck by a passing car.
The 9-month-old red-tailed hawk has been living in the Webster House project at 167th Street and Webster Avenue in The Bronx for many weeks.
He is the same federally protected species as Pale Male and Lola, the famous feathered Fifth Avenue duo that soars through Central Park.
But expert Lincoln Karim said the youngster was likely part of a different hawk family living around Fordham University that hatched three babies this spring.
The injured hawk was hopping mad when Police Officers Brian Pastula and Isaac Soberal, called by a group of worried residents, arrived at the scene Tuesday afternoon.
"He was really p- - -ed off, no doubt about it - and filthy," said Pastula, 30. "It appeared at first that he had a broken wing. He just didn't look right."
Witnesses told the cops they suspected foul play.
"Initially there was suspicion it might have been hit with a BB gun or something. We certainly hope that was not the case," Pastula said.
The group of good Samaritans and the cops worked together to wrestle the bird, named "Radio Run" by the officers, into a medium-size cage meant to hold tiny parakeets.
"He was pretty impressive with those talons. He kept trying to break through the top of the cage," said Soberal, 25.
Radio Run was bundled into the cruiser and Pastula, after donning a pair of thick gloves, sat next to him to keep the cage lid on.
"I felt bad for him. He kept making this screeching noise, and he seemed dazed and confused," Pastula said.
The cops, only five months out of the Police Academy, dug through Pastula's training notebook to find the numbers for New York Animal Care and Control.
They brought the bird to an animal-care facility, where it was diagnosed with a bruised wing and a concussion.
Authorities released him into the care of FDNY firefighter Bobby Horbach and his wife, Kathy, who run a well-known wildlife sanctuary in Massapequa, LI.
Soberal, a Bronx native who was in the Army's 69th Regiment before joining the NYPD, said he and his partner hope to release Radio Run back into the wild when he is fully healed.
"He brought us together with the community in a new way," Soberal said. "Usually you pull up, and it's all hard stares. But with Radio Run, we were all working for the same thing."
