Safety at Work
Middletown, CT (WorkersCompensation.com) – Postal workers across the country faced attacks in the last few weeks from animals and humans.
In Middletown, Conn., a postal worker was bitten multiple times by a pit bull. Police said around 4:15 p.m. on June 9, they responded to a call about a report of a dog bite. Officers arrived and found 48-year-old Ryan Boudreau injured near a residence on the street.
Boudreau was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and sustained bites to his left thigh, left wrist, right forearm, lower abdomen, and the back of his head.
“I’m shocked. I feel bad for the guy. He’s a great mailman,” Dave Beit, a Middletown resident, said. “I hope he recovers.”
Police said Boudreau was delivering mail when a 5-year-old male pit bull forced open the storm door of a house and attacked him in the front yard. The dog was taken to an animal shelter and will remain in isolation as police investigate the incident.
The attack came the week the USPS kicked off its National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign that runs through the end of July. Roughly 6,000 postal workers were attacked by dogs last year, the USPS said.
Amanda Salen, a postal carrier in Berks and Hamburg County, Penn., was delivering mail on Oct. 11, 2024, when she was attacked by a dog. Salen told Berks Weekly she was walking her route and stepped up to a foyer shared by two apartments when she noticed one of the interior doors was ajar. At first, she thought nothing about it.
“I came off the porch, and I heard trotting behind me,” she told Berks Weekly. “I turned and saw the dog. I said, ‘Hey, boy’ — I’m a dog lover, I have two pit bulls myself. But then I got the vibe. He wasn’t going away.”
Salen said the dog lunged for her. As she tried to use her bag as a guard, he bit her.
“I didn’t panic, but it was intense. I couldn’t even reach for my dog spray,” she said.
She was eventually rescued by a woman who was passing by. The woman tackled the dog, and another nearby person helped by applying a tourniquet until paramedics arrived. She suffered multiple deep wounds on her leg that required more than 20 stitches and needed weeks off for recovery.
Salen continues to work at the post office working as a clerk but occasionally takes on delivery routes when needed.
In Pittsburgh, a postal worker attack ended in a SWAT standoff.
Police said a letter carrier was attacked in Pittsburgh’s Bon Air neighborhood on Wednesday. When law enforcement responded, the attacker, Jason Olszewski, refused to come out of his home and told police he was “putting on body armor.”
Olszewski was eventually convinced to surrender.
“There was just that process of trying to coax him out, and that probably took about an hour, maybe 45 minutes,” a witness said. “Then, when he was ultimately talked out, he sort of skirted, tried to escape, and then they tackled him.”
According to police, Olszewski approached the postal worker as he was eating lunch inside his vehicle. Police said Olszewski started kicking and punching the vehicle’s side door. Police said Olszewski threw a rock at the vehicle and when the worker confronted him, Olszewski punched him in the arm and shoulder.
Olszewski was previously charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct after his grandmother called the police scared that he was overdosing on Xanax. When police and paramedics went into his bedroom during that call, Olszewski became aggressive and told police he was “going to go upstairs and get two 12-guages.” He then allegedly followed the officer outside of the house, before being tased and taken into custody.
In southwest Baltimore, a postal worker was injured in a knife attack.
Police there said a 38-year-old postal worker was attacked by a 46-year-old man on June 11. According to reports, the confrontation began when the suspect questioned the postal worker’s employment status. As the confrontation escalated, the suspect pulled out a knife and cut the postal worker on the finger. The postal worker also suffered abrasions on his elbow after falling to the ground trying to escape, officials said.
The suspect was taken into custody, police said, but no information on charges was provided.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
