A USPS mail carrier in Upper Arlington, Ohio, was caught red-handed, and it wasn't for anything related to his job.
Homeowner Tom Martin uses a Ring doorbell to guard his home. Not something out of the ordinary these days, as many porch pirates are caught trying to steal things right off of a stoop. It's not everyday when a worker who is supposed to be in and out, however, goes above and beyond to be cruel.
A United States Postal Service worker was seen pepper spraying Martin's dogs. Now, this wasn't in self-defense; As you can clearly see in the video, the man sprays the innocent dogs from the other side of a locked gate, then retreats as shrill cries of pain settle in. According to news reports, the Martin home's mailbox is located on their garage door, about 40 feet from the gated area. That means the mail carrier walked around the corner, sprayed the dogs, and retreated.
The YouTube video from Viralhog has a statement that reads,
"I received a notice on my video doorbell that there was motion. I logged in to notice my mail carrier was spraying pepper spray at the gate to my courtyard with my three dogs on the other side. The dogs were not barking until he started spraying. The mailbox is forty feet from the gate. As he walked away he stopped, turned around to admire his handy work, then went on delivering the mail."
There is nothing in the video below that shows the mail carrier being truly threatened or in imminent danger, despite his reported claims later.
"I was devastated. I was mad. I almost went ballistic," Martin said, via ABC6 News. "How could anybody do that? Why would anyone want to do that? The dogs don't even bark until the mail carrier walked away."
What's stranger is that it took nine days for anyone at the USPS to respond to his claims. When postal officials finally did, an emailed statement read, in part:
"The Postal Service is currently investigating the complaint and depending on the results of this investigation, appropriate corrective action will be taken consistent with the provisions of the applicable contractual agreement."
The postal carrier later returned to Martin's home, saying that he "felt threatened" by the dogs. He informed Martin that he was being assigned to another mail route, per ABC6 News.
This is another case of animal cruelty and pepper-spraying dogs that should be banned by the United States Post Office. Thank goodness for security cameras, so we can watch what happens to our best friends when we're not around.
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This article was originally published June 4, 2019.
