I got back in my cruiser and he was like literally punching the cruiser windows and like he got blood all over the car too. And then he stopped and looked at me and smiled and then started running towards someone's house. When do you think was that first moment that you earned the respect of your field training officer? I went to a gas station and go get a snack. Get it, come out and then a car gets stolen right in front of me. And then I go, get in my cruiser to go pull it over, and the car takes off. What was the first hard call you had to respond to? People assume things about everyone, and people assume things about me based on the way that I look. When Taylor Preyak was just five years old, her mother passed away and her life changed forever. Years later, after being adopted and starting over in Connecticut,

she chose a path that would put her on the front lines of danger,

becoming a police officer.

Originally I'm from Texas.

My mom worked for American Airlines,

and anytime she got a promotion, we moved.

So after Texas, I lived in

Arizona, then Boston, then Rhode Island, close to Providence. And then her last promotion was at

JFK. So that's why we lived in Connecticut. And unfortunately, like, she was on her way to work

one day. And she got into a car accident and she passed away when I was only five. So after that had happened, I was adopted by a family member. And then I mostly grew up in New Melford, Connecticut. Oh, wow. I'm sorry to hear that. Thank you. Yeah. It was like my mom and I, like, we kind of, we did things on a whim, like, when she was alive. Like, I remember one time, like, we just, she'd be like, oh, want to go to Puerto Rico for the day? Like, because she, it was before 9-11. So, you know, rules were different back then. So we'd, like, do little trips like that together. And I would always, like, I liked going to work with her and I had my little suitcase,

like I'd bring on the plane and just be happy as a clam sitting there.

Where was your dad? Was he not in the picture?

He wasn't in the picture. And it's like, you know, he was a lot younger than my mom.

She was 25 when she had me and he was only, I think, like 20 or 21.

She had said to him, like, look, I know you're young and like he was in the Marines. And it just she was like, you don't need to be like involved. Like I'm going to have her, but like you don't have to be. So, you know, they did that. And I guess I did meet him once when I was like two and a half, but I don't remember that. And I just met him for the first time like in 20 right before COVID it was like in right

end of 2019 I believe yeah and I found out I have a brother who is 15 younger 15 years younger than me

oh wow are you guys close now yes we are they they live in New Hampshire so it's like we don't

see each other all the time and you know I think it's like in your head if you haven't met your parents so it's like we don't see each other all the time. And, you know, I think it's like in your head if you haven't met your parents. So it's like you just wonder what they are. And it was really, it was weird meeting him for the first time because we look a lot alike. And same with my brother. Like we look so much alike. And, you know, I mean, my hair is not naturally blonde. But like I, even if I had brown hair, like, you know, we look, we look alike. But I see them a couple times a year. And my brother, he's a senior in high school and he's, you know, going to join like the National Guard. So I'm happy, you know, to have met them and knowing that, even though we don't see each other, like, as often as I would like,

you know, it's still nice to know them. And it just, it was, it's very interesting, like,

growing up, you know, and even though you have one parent alive, like, you still end up being,

like, getting adopted. And when my mom passed away, I did have a sister who was, like,

only six months old. So it was, like, really hard when she mom passed away, I did have a sister who was like only six months old. So it was like really hard when she passed because then it's like I just felt like at five years old felt like the pressure had taken care of her and whatever. So like to me I always say like my childhood kind of ended when I was five and like I've always just been, to grow up way before like I should have. So that's something like I've always been very just like resilient and kind of just like

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