‘NCIS’ Alum Pauley Perrette Shares Story About Kamala Harris Checking up on Her After 2015 Attack: ‘She’s Awesome’

As Kamala Harris prepares to become vice president in January, NCIS alum Pauley Perrette is reflecting on the personal impact Harris has had on her life. On Nov. 26, the actress revealed that following her terrifying attack in 2015, Harris called to check in on her “almost in tears worried.”

Perrette made the revelation in response to 14-year-old artist Tyler Gordon, who received a call from Harris after he shared a video to social media of him painting a picture of the vice president-elect. Responding, Perrette noted that she has been “telling y’all how amazing” Harris is. Stating that Harris is “the REAL THING” and “AWESOME,” the actress, who portrayed Abby Sciuto on the CBS police procedural, said that after she “was brutally attacked by a homeless guy in 2015 she called me on the phone almost in tears worried.”

The attack which Perrette was speaking of occurred in November of 2015 when a homeless man named David Merck allegedly repeatedly punched her and told her he was going to kill her. Perrette, opening up about the attack at the time, said that she was “jumped by a VERY psychotic homeless man” who had “forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead.” She said that she managed to escape after the man released her and told her to “get the f— out of here.”

“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 previously said of the experience. “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.”

Merck was charged with false imprisonment by violence, felony assault and making a criminal threat against the actress. He pleaded not guilty, but was deemed incompetent to stand trial. A judge ruled in October 2016 that Merck be committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was released in February 2018, leading Perrette to voice concerns that he could hurt another person. In a statement to Los Angeles’ Fox 11 at the time, the actress said, “I don’t walk outside my house. I think it’s entirely possible that the next word I hear about this guy is that he’ll kill a female.”