Residents of the 1300 block of 14th Street in Santa Monica, California will no longer find their mail in their mailboxes. Instead, they must collect it from their local post office, the city postmaster said in a letter last week.
The move was necessary for the safety of drivers, the postmaster said.
“Several airlines have been subjected to attacks and threats of attack from a person who has not been found or has been arrested,” the flyer, which was delivered on Thursday, said.
Postal workers reported three separate incidents, US Postal Service spokeswoman Natashi Garvins said in a statement to the Washington Post. The decision to suspend the service was “unusual” but “necessary” to protect staff, she added.
Assaulting a mailman who is at work is a federal crime. The US Postal Inspection Service, the Postal Service’s law enforcement division, is investigating the Santa Monica incidents. The Post declined further comment as the investigation is ongoing. It It was not announced how long the ban would last.
The incidents are the latest in a series of attacks on postal workers. In May, an Arizona man reportedly elbowed a postal worker in the face and blackened her eye after she refused to hand him mail without first seeing his ID. A federal grand jury in January indicted two Rhode Island men for allegedly robbing and assaulting a postman in September after the worker refused to deliver a package. Last month, federal officials announced a $50,000 reward for helping identify two men who assaulted a postman and caused a head injury in Orlando on March 7.
Drug dealers kidnapped a postman when her package of cocaine was nowhere to be seen, FBI agents say. You face life imprisonment.
The Santa Monica Police Department found a crime report involving a postal worker on the 1300 block of 14th Street, Lt. Erika Aklufi to The Post. The attack happened on January 19 and involved someone “who lived in the area” who hit a postal worker with a broomstick, police said.
“The victim suffered a minor injury to his arm and did not require medical attention,” Aklufi said. “The officers who took the report contacted the United States Postal Inspection Service on the day of the incident.”
The postman later decided not to press charges, Aklufi said. It is not immediately clear whether the Postal Inspectorate has pursued the case.
The Santa Monica Police Department tried to speak to the postmaster after the flyers were distributed, according to Aklufi, but could not reach anyone.
“Without speaking to the postmaster, it will be difficult to see the extent of this problem,” Aklufi said. “I’ve never heard of the postal service going out of service to everyone in a neighborhood.”
The move has frustrated local residents, KTLA reported. Michael Fan, who lives on the street, lamented that the decision made “no sense”.
“Why do I have to drive to the post office, pay for parking, for mail to be delivered?” he said.
Courtney Smith told CBS News that she was disappointed with the announcement, but added that she understands why the decision was made.
“I have a great deal of sympathy for the mail carriers,” Smith said. “They shouldn’t have to deal with that.”