[ad_1]
The NYPD rookie caught on tape giving her lieutenant a bawdy lap dance at their precinct holiday party apologized to her boss and his wife — as she insisted that the video wouldn’t have gone viral “had it been a man doing it.”
“I feel like just because, mainly — I’m a female, dressed the way I was, being a rookie ‚— things were different,” Vera Mekuli told TMZ. “Had it been a man doing it, I feel like it would have been more of a joking matter and it would have stayed in-house versus go public the way it did with me.”
Mekuli, 26, “had no knowledge” her superior was married and is “truly sorry” for the consequences of the lap dance, which prompted police brass to reassign 44th Precinct Lt. Nick McGarry to subway patrol, she said.
“I do want to apologize to the lieutenant’s wife. You know, I am sorry, truly I am and I really hope it didn’t cause too much damage in the marriage or in your personal life,” she said. “I know it’s been rough. I’ve been seeing the articles and I’ve been seeing pictures of new guys all over the newspapers as well as mine. It wasn’t meant to be like this. I really had no knowledge of your marriage.”
McGarry’s wife Melissa McGarry went berserk on a reporter on Monday and had to be restrained by her husband when asked about The Post’s front-page story on the wild video of the rookie cop grinding in his lap.
No official disciplinary action was taken against Mekuli, a Bronx native who started with the NYPD in February. Mekuli said she feels remorse over the impact on McGarry’s career.
“It was supposed to be for fun, sh— and giggles,” she said. “I feel like I’ve completely ruined, I guess, his picture as a lieutenant, as a boss. I know it doesn’t look good on him at all. But I do apologize.”
She told TMZ she is “the life of the party when it comes down to it,” and late into her precinct’s holiday party was “dared” by her coworkers to give a lap dance. She then “grabbed the lieutenant, sat him down” and “did the lap dance,” she recalled.
Mekuli said her bosses at the precinct “feel bad” about the incident and allowed her to work from home this week.
“I would love to go back. It’s hard. I feel like there’s just judgment and shame that shouldn’t be there,” she said through tears. “I feel like I shouldn’t be judged, or anything of that sort because of the lap dance that I did when I was off duty not in uniform.”
[ad_2]