Flint letter carrier honored for saving girl in dog attack

• Rungphet Bodnar used dog spray to finally fend off the pit bull after it began mauling a child.
• Bodnar is being honored as one of the National Association of Letter Carrier’s Heroes of the Year at a ceremony in Washington D.C.

Over the course of what was then 28 years with the U.S. Postal Service, letter carrier Rungphet Bodnar had dealt with her share of dogs — she’d been bitten herself on occasion — but she hadn’t encountered this before.

As she drove her route through Flint in April, passing a spot where a school bus had just let off children, she saw a dog, a pit bull, she said, with its jaws clamped on a young girl’s leg and dragging her across a lawn, as a woman Bodnar knew vainly tried to help. Children were screaming, the dog wouldn’t let go.

What happened next may have helped save a young girl’s life and led to Bodnar, 54, of Clio, being named one of the National Association of Letter Carrier’s Heroes of the Year, an award for which she and several others from around the country are being honored at a ceremony Thursday in Washington D.C.

Bodnar spoke to the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday, recalling the event and how she reacted when she saw what was happening and pulled to a stop. “I grabbed my dog spray and started running toward the little girl,” she said.

Over the next several minutes, Bodnar and the woman — whom Bodnar knew was hearing impaired and whose own children were nearby — fought to get the dog to release the girl. Bodnar sprayed the dog in the eyes with the spray, infused with ingredients intended to deter aggressive canines, several times. But each time the dog would circle and attack again, jumping at the 8-year-old girl in the woman’s arms, grabbing and yanking at legs, arms, whatever.

Finally, Bodnar sprayed the dog and when it backed off, she continued to move at it keeping between the dog and the child, spraying it more and more, as it retreated into a back yard. The woman got away with the child, who was badly mauled. Bodnar, knowing another school bus was due to drop students off soon, called 911 and moved her mail truck in front of the yard in an attempt to block it, even though there was no gate. It worked. The police arrived, as did animal control.

The dog, which apparently had jumped out of a window left open in a nearby home, didn’t come out of the yard; it would later be euthanized, Bodnar said. The girl, Bodnar said, needed surgeries but survived. “She had bites all over her. She almost lost her arm, her legs were all messed up,” said Bodnar. “I think she went back to school after about a month and a half.”

Bodnar said the girl’s mom and grandmother personally thanked her and when the girl sees Bodnar walking her route now, she gives her a hug. “I’ve been bitten several times myself,” said Bodnar, “but I’ve never seen any kids bit before.”

For her bravery and fast action, Bodnar is, along with other letter carrier heroes, getting a week’s paid leave in Washington, featuring a tour of the Capitol and other events. A pin and a T-shirt were among the awards she received prior to the event.

“Letter carriers are in the communities they serve every day and often are the first to notice when something is wrong. They smell smoke, hear someone calling for help or notice something that just doesn’t seem right. Often, they are the first to respond and lend a helping hand,” said a statement on the website for the NALC’s Heroes program. “Each year, NALC highlights the special acts of courage and compassion performed by letter carriers who improve — or save — lives along their routes.”

“We are immensely proud of what the heroes being recognized did,” NALC President Brian Renfroe said. “They represent our country’s best in public service. They truly are our heroes.”

The honors this year come at a time of increasing uncertainty about the future of the postal service: The agency has seen billions in losses. President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to make deep cuts to many government agencies’ staffs and budgets and has talked about privatizing the postal service. There’s been a bipartisan push to protect postal service, especially in rural and underserved areas.

Bodnar, who grew up in Burton, near Flint, said she knows that “everything is up in the air,” in terms of the future and she’s looking at possibly retiring soon. But she doesn’t have any doubts about how she feels about being a letter carrier, she said.

“I love my job,” she said. “I love being outside, so I love my job.”

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

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