"NCIS" Star Pauley Perrette Tweets About Scary Encounter with a Homeless Man: "I'm Grateful to be Alive"
by Francesca Bacardi
11/13/15


A homeless man attacked Pauley Perrette on her street, but thankfully her attacker has since been arrested.

The "NCIS" actress tweeted about the incident early Friday morning, recapping the terrifying incident start to finish. She said she was "jumped by a VERY psychotic homeless man," who she said "grabbed me so forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead repeatedly telling me he was going to kill me."





Perrette was on her way to meet the architect helping her design a new space she recently purchased, so she was alone at the time of her attack. She wrote that he kept repeating his name, William, and warned her, "Don't forget that." The actress feared that he would pull her into a nearby empty garage, where she felt she would definitely be "dead."

"I knew I couldn't overcome him," she wrote. "I prayed my heart out and then finally said, 'William is a beautiful name. I have a little nephew named William."

She said that he continued to beat her until he let her go. She quickly called a neighbor and a police friend to whom she was able to give a description of her attacker. Fortunately the police were able to track him down and arrested him for felony assault.





Despite this scary encounter, Perrette, a well-known civil rights advocate, called for change in the community. The actress used her experience to shed light on the lack of treatment for those with mental health issues and minimal housing for the homeless.

"My life changed tonight. My...I don't know," she wrote. "We need full mental health care. We need housing and help for the homeless. We need to support our cops. We need to not walk alone. I need to heal."

"I almost died tonight," she ended the post.



Thankfully Perrette is OK now, but we're keeping her in our thoughts.





Update:

The LAPD confirmed Perrette's story to E! News. The call came in around 5:15 and police arrested a 45-year-old man on felony assault and resides in jail on $100,000 bail.

http://www.eonline.com/news/715566/ncis-star-pauley-perrette-tweets-about-scary-encounter-with-a-homeless-man-i-m-only-grateful-to-be-alive

http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20151202/ncis-star-pauley-perrette-identifies-alleged-attacker-in-court-he-is-ordered-to-stand-trial

“He was so much stronger than me,” she testified on Wednesday. “I couldn’t run. I couldn’t fight.”

http://www.tmz.com/2016/02/10/pauley-perrette-second-homeless-attack/

The NCIS star says a homeless man, whom she just gave money to, grabbed her wrist and put his head in her car. She eventually was able to talk him into letting go.

Pauley Perrette Opens Up about her Recovery 1 Year after "Extremely Traumatic Attack"
by Stephanie Petit
12/5/16


One year after Pauley Perrette gave emotional testimony against a homeless man who allegedly attacked her outside her home, the "NCIS" actress says she’s grateful to be alive.

While attending TrevorLIVE in Beverly Hills on Sunday night to benefit LGBTQ youth through the Trevor Project, Perrette told PEOPLE that “faith” got her through the incident — and she feels like things could have been worse had someone else been attacked that night.

“There were a lot of feelings and a lot of emotions, but I feel like at the end of it all, as strange as it sounds, if that incident had to happen in the universe, I feel like it had to be me,” Perrette, 47, says. “I feel like it was supposed to be me somehow because I have a lot of experience working with the homeless, working with the mentally ill. This instance, de-escalation that had to happen right then.”





The actress, who plays forensic scientist Abby Sciuto on the CBS hit, says she’s done a lot of healing over the past year following the “extremely traumatic” attack.

“I think whatever the circumstances are, when you almost get killed, when someone almost kills you, and you’re alive, and you walk away, it really gives you a lot of perspective,” she says.



Perrette said her alleged assailant, David Merck, “grabbed me in the arm, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead repeatedly, telling me he was going to kill me,” adding that the man kept repeating the name, “William.”

Merck has been charged with one felony count each of making a criminal threat and false imprisonment by violence. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/05/pauley-perrette-attack-homeless-man