Police Officer Kelly Merrick was awarded Cop of the Month honors at the this month’s 62nd Precinct Community Council Meeting for arresting several people in connection with a Thursday, April 9 drug deal gone bad.
Merrick, assigned to the precinct’s Domestic Violence Unit, was making a home visit that night when “shots fired at an apartment” came through her radio.
The closest officers to the apartment on 67th Street between 17th and 18th Avenues where the shots were fired, Merrick and her partner were the first to arrive on the scene to find “pounds and pounds” of marijuana and a man attempting to flee via fire escape.
According to Captain William Taylor, the precinct’s commanding officer, there were seven people inside the apartment while shots were being fired and there was video surveillance of them leaving the building.
Merrick chased the man – who was in the middle of transporting marijuana to the roof – up the fire escape and caught him. Police units estimated that the marijuana on the roof and inside of the apartment was valued at approximately $40,000 to $50,000.
Merrick also obtained a search warrant for the apartment and found an additional 15 pounds of marijuana, pills, and scales with marijuana residue on them inside of a safe. This led to the arrest of three people, two men and one woman, believed to be helping the man at the head of the operation – who police believe has fled the state.
Merrick will be honored next month once again for her work with the Domestic Violence Unit in a joint meeting with the 68th Precinct to be held at the Knights of Columbus, 13th Avenue and 86th Street, on May 19 at 7:30 p.m. District Attorney Ken Thompson will be the guest speaker.
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