Judge's boyfriend arrested

Bill Egbert:

The boozed-up boyfriend of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills tried to snatch a 4-year-old boy - then used the judge's luxury sedan as his getaway car, police sources said yesterday.

"It was the worst, scariest feeling you can imagine," the boy's mom said, describing how she fought off the alleged intruder, 44-year-old Lawrence Craig.

"I had to kick his hand and at the same time shove my son back," the mother said.

Craig, an aspiring opera singer, turned himself in yesterday, the sources said. When he surrendered at the 48th Precinct stationhouse, he was carrying a Bible and wearing a clergyman's collar, but it was not clear if he had any formal religious affiliation, the sources said.

Investigators said the strange incident began at 2:25 p.m. Saturday when Craig entered an apartment building on Beaumont Ave. in the Arthur Ave. area of the Bronx and knocked at the door of Norva David, 30, whom he apparently does not know.

"I couldn't see him through the peephole," David told the Daily News. "I kept asking, 'Who are you?' and he just said, 'I'm looking for you ma'am.'"

David opened her door because she believed Craig was not immediately outside, but as she peeked out, he shoved his foot inside, grabbing at her son, she said. Terrified, David fought off Craig and forced him outside, she said. He "didn't look normal, like he was drunk or high," she said.

Witnesses had no problem remembering the license plate of the Volvo sedan the man fled in. The tags read: "Supreme Court 237" and cops traced the vehicle to Mills, the sources said.

Mills, 51, told detectives she had lent Craig her car and said he "had a drinking problem" and "was looking for help," the sources said.

Mills is perhaps best known for crashing her Rolls-Royce into two parked cars in Riverdale three years ago. She was charged with drunken driving but acquitted by a Bronx jury.

Craig was charged with assault, attempted burglary and child endangerment yesterday. He was being held pending arraignment.

At his Washington Heights apartment building, neighbors said he had sung with the New York City Opera, but that could not be confirmed.

"We see the judge because she always picks him up here," said Quziam Haisania, the building super. "They're a beautiful, happy couple."

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