Apr 23 2007 09:22 AM
I just put in my first UMDB memory of a Mets minor leaguer. I remember the day I heard Joe Petcka beat a housecat to death. I remember that day like it was this morning.
'SEX' JOCK A 'CRUEL CAT KILLER'
'EX-MET' ACTOR BASHED GAL PAL'S PET: DA
By PHILIP MESSING
April 13, 2007 -- A former Mets minor-leaguer was so jealous of his girlfriend's pet cat, Norman, that he shouted, "You love that cat more than me" during a drunken fight - then brutally beat the tabby to death, prosecutors said yesterday.
Joe Petcka - who was drafted by the Amazin's in 1992 before taking up acting and getting a bit part on "Sex and the City" - savaged the helpless animal two weeks ago in a downtown apartment, authorities said. The violence stunned even hardened animal welfare agents.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound bruiser allegedly punched the orange-and-white, 71/2-pound puss numerous times, leaving it with a cut lip, broken ribs, fractured teeth, a split tongue, torn lungs and blood in its chest cavity, said Robert Reisman, a veterinarian with the ASPCA.
"This pet's injuries reflect true, ugly violence," said Joseph Pentangelo, an ASPCA spokesman.
According to authorities, the trouble started on the night of March 27. After some drinking, Petcka, 36, and his girlfriend, Sports Illustrated reporter Lisa Altobelli, had a rip-roaring fight.
"You love that cat more than you love me," he shouted, before leaving the woman's Greenwich Street apartment.
He allegedly returned the next day when Altobelli wasn't there and launched his sick attack, officials said.
When Altobelli got home she found her beloved Norman's brutalized remains beneath her nightstand. She took the cat to an animal hospital, where vets determined that it suffered a lingering, agonizing death.
"Because of the chest trauma, there was difficulty breathing," Reisman said. "The cat died over a period of 15 minutes."
Petcka was charged yesterday with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals. He faces up to two years in prison, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.
Petcka's lawyer, Charles Hochbaum, defended the actor, claiming that it was Norman who was the aggressor.
"I can say what we believe happened," the attorney said. "The cat bit him, then any injuries to the cat were in response to being bit."
The Wisconsin native was a fifth-round draft pick for the Mets, and kicked around their farm system for a while but never made it to the majors.
In addition to his one-episode "Sex and the City" stint, he appeared in the Mel Gibson-Helen Hunt film "What Women Want," in which he played the character "Man on Street." He now works as a waiter and does some set design.
Additional reporting by Laura Italiano
philip.messing@nypost.com
