The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information on the reported assault of one of the agency’s letter carriers in the Jerome Avenue area of the Bronx last month.
According to Daniela Lella, a public information officer at the USPIS New York Division, the agency has launched an investigation after a person attempted to rob an on-duty USPS letter carrier near a collection box at the corner of Davidson Avenue and West 190th Street on July 21.
In a video obtained by the USPIS, a person in a white tee shirt and a black backpack is seen tackling and wrestling a letter carrier to the ground near the collection box, located on a scaffold-covered sidewalk. It appears the letter carrier was able to get up and defend himself until the attacker splits off to the other side of the street.
None of the passersby seen in the video during the altercation intervened.
The USPIS is the law enforcement branch of the U.S. Postal Service that has the authority to conduct investigations and make arrests, according to Lella. She did say, however, that the USPS employee reported the attack to “local law enforcement” as well.
Spokespersons from the NYPD did not respond to Bronx Times questions about whether or not the department is aware of the incident and working with the USPIS.
Lella told the Bronx Times on Wednesday that the USPIS has reports of this type of attack happening in all five boroughs. She said sometimes perpetrators aren’t sure what the postal carrier may have on them, and whether or not they carry anything with value.
“The individual saw a crime of opportunity,” Lella said.
The security of the borough’s workforce in particular has been a hot button issue in post-COVID-19 New York City.
In March, a coalition of state businesses called on city and state officials to take action to address larceny and retail theft after a 24-year-old female cashier at Food Universe Marketplace in Fordham Manor was assaulted by a group of people during her shift at the store. The push for action intensified later that month after an employee at a Foodtown grocery store in Allerton was pushed to the ground and punched for trying to stop two people from leaving with tote bags.
Then in May, an MTA bus driver on the Bx12 was attacked by a rider — three weeks after another Bronx transit employee was assaulted by three women who hit the worker over the head with a broomstick.
In this latest attack near Jerome Avenue, Lella told the Bronx Times that she can’t divulge much about the case because the investigation is ongoing. She said she hopes anyone with more information will reach out to their office by calling 1-877-876-2455.
The agency still hasn’t made any arrests, although there is a person of interest, according to Lella.
“We just want to make sure this person is apprehended,” she said.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
