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‘NCIS’ Star Pauley Perrette Forgives Homeless Man Who Attacked Her

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 07:36 PST, Mar 7, 2016

NCIS star Pauley Perrette has decided to forgive the homeless man who attacked her. Instead of getting angry at the man, it sounds like Perrette still has a great deal of empathy to give to the man, who went by the name “William” when he threatened to kill her.

Her attacker, whose name is actually David Merck, was later charged with one count of criminal threat and one count of false imprisonment by violence.

If Merck is found guilty on both counts, then he will spend four years in prison. That is a maximum sentence for both crimes. Right now, he’s still in jail with a $60,000 bail to his name. Considering Merck is homeless, it doesn’t seem like he will be bailed out anytime soon. He’s been in prison since November.

Of the homeless, she wrote that something needs to be done in the community to improve mental health facilities.

“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.”

Speaking of how she’s moving forward after her attack, Pauley Perrette said, “My heart broke for him. My tears that night were for him. I had looked into his eyes. There was nothing there. It seemed like his soul and his humanity were gone.”

She continued, “He was out on the street without resources. It was a consequence of our failure as a society to take care of our mentally ill and impaired homeless community.”

That said, she doesn’t have any anger towards her first attacker.

“Of course I forgive him. I have no anger, only sadness. He didn’t know who I was, he didn’t know who he was. He is very confused, he’s homeless and he needs help.”

When Perrette was attacked by the homeless man in November, hours later, the NCIS actress took to Twitter to express how she was feeling after the ordeal.

During her first attack, when she was punched in the face repeatedly, Perrette said that she couldn’t think, but instead she prayed. When the homeless man said his name was William, Pauley replied, “William is a beautiful name. I have a little nephew named William.” That response seemed to spook her attacker, and he fled after landing one more punch to her face.

Then, in an unbelievable turn of events, Pauley was attacked again in a separate incident, months after her first attack by a homeless person. In a screencap, the NCIS star explained that she was in her car when she saw a homeless man begging for money. Perrette decided to give the homeless man a dollar and got his attention. When the homeless man took the bill, he pulled on her wrist and stuck his head inside of Perrette’s vehicle.

Although this attack was less severe than her first, it shook Pauley up and she decided to share with her Twitter followers, who seemed to sympathize with the star. Still, the star says that she will continue to help the homeless.

“I learn. I pray. I forgive. I move on. I move to change things. To help. To help the ‘Williams’ and the ‘Davids’ of our communities—before it becomes an assault just after 5 p.m. on a Hollywood sidewalk.”

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS]

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