'LAP DANCING' cop Vera Mekuli is suspended for interfering in brother-in-law's DUI arrest
TOTOWA, NEW JERSEY: An NYPD rookie has reportedly been suspended for allegedly interfering with her brother-in-law's DUI arrest. The suspension came just five months after she was filmed giving her married superior a lap dance at a party.
27-year-old Officer Vera Mekuli was suspended over claims that she interfered with the drunk driving arrest of her brother-in-law in New Jersey on May 8. Mekuli's brother-in-law, who has not been identified, was reportedly arrested by New Jersey State Police after he was spotted urinating by the side of the road. Following the arrest, Mekuli stormed into a nearby station barefoot early the next morning and demanded to know why her brother-in-law had been arrested. She was suspended without pay on May 27 and it is unclear at this time how long the suspension will last.
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According to the New York Daily News, Mekuli showed up at the state police barracks in Totowa in the early hours of May 8. She reportedly announced that she was a police officer while clad in a dress and barefoot, and demanded to know why the arrest had occurred. Upon being confronted with the reasons for her brother-in-law's detention, Mekuli reportedly started to record officers on her phone. A police report reviewed by the Daily News noted, "Officer Mekuli immediately began to question the validity of the arrest."
An officer at the Totowa station told Mekuli that the department had "procedures to follow." The report described her as becoming "irate" and demanding to speak to a lieutenant. "You guys are talking out of your a*s, none of this was done correctly," she allegedly told the state police. The 27-year-old did not file an official complaint at the time, but someone she was with filed a report with the New Jersey State Police Office of Professional Standards. However, their investigation found no wrongdoing by the arresting officers.
Mekuli's antics sparked an investigation by the NYPD Internal Affairs, which is reviewing state police body cameras that were worn during the incident. According to the New York Post, Mekuli became a cop in February 2021 and is currently an officer with the 44th Precinct in The Bronx. She is on probationary status. A video of Mekuli straddling her superior officer Lt Nick McGarry went viral in December, resulting in McGarry being reassigned to the transit police.
The NYPD rookie who was caught on tape giving her lieutenant a lap dance at their precinct holiday party has been identified as 26 yr old Vera Mekuli. She is now apologizing to her boss & his wife and insists that the video wouldn’t have gone viral “had it been a man doing it.”🙄 pic.twitter.com/tUMMugXet8
— Natasha ❀ (@ndelriego) December 27, 2021
The viral clip showed Mekuli wearing a black top, plaid miniskirt, and knee-high boots while grinding on McGarry's lap as he sat on a chair and held onto her thighs. The rookie apologized to her boss's wife Melissa after the lap dance that took place at Rory Dolan's bar in Yonkers on December 15, 2021. Mekuli said that she had been working from home since the story made the rounds, adding that she felt "judged" over the incident.
"I want to apologize to the lieutenant's wife, you know, I am sorry, truly I am," she told TMZ. "I hope it didn't cause too much damage in the marriage or in your personal life. I know it's been rough. It wasn't meant to be like this, I really had no knowledge of your marriage," she continued. Mekuli said that the dance was meant to be for "s**ts and giggles" and that "everyone had been having drinks."
However, she was embarrassed by the backlash. "There's a lot of judgment and shame that shouldn't be there, even though there's a lot of support," she said, adding that she was judged harsher because she was a "woman" and "not a man," and that her "rookie" status didn't help. The embattled officer said if she was a man, "it would have been more of a joking matter and remained in-house."