LOS ANGELES -- Pauley Perrette, the actress best known for her role on the TV series “NCIS,” said she was attacked by a “VERY psychotic homeless man” near her Hollywood Hills home on Thursday, in an incident that she described on Twitter and resulted in the arrest of a 45-year-old suspect.
The violent encounter occurred about 5 p.m. in the 6000 block of Cahuenga Terrace, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department told KTLA.
“I was walking across my street to a new guest house I bought to meet my architect” when she was “jumped” by the attacker, Perrette tweeted shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday. He “grabbed me so forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead repeatedly telling me he was going to kill me,” she added.
“Then he showed me how he was going to kill me,” the tweet continued. “He kept repeating his name: ‘WILLIAM — —, DON’T FORGET THAT!”
The 46-year-old actress wrote that she was “alone, terrified and trapped.”
“I prayed my heart out an then finally said, ‘William is a beautiful name,I have a little nephew named William,’” Perette wrote.
The man allegedly punched her again before telling her to “get the f— out of here,” after which she went into shock and collapsed on the sidewalk, she said.
According to Perrette’s written account of the incident, she then texted a nearby friend and drew a composite sketch of her assailant, who was “headed towards Hollywood Blvd with murder in his eyes.”
Her friend, a man named James, found the attacker and led responding police officers to him, the actress said.
David Merck, 45, was taken into custody on suspicion of felony battery, the LAPD said.
