Postal worker arrested after confrontation with couple in Sunnyvale – NBC Bay Area

A Sunnyvale couple faced a disturbing situation last week after police said a mail carrier behaved strangely, threatened people and even injured a police dog.

According to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, the postal worker was apparently making his rounds on Cordilleras Avenue last Wednesday when he suddenly stepped out into the middle of the street and began talking loudly to himself.

A couple was driving down the road and stopped when they couldn’t pass him. When the worker turned his attention to them, they started recording a video with their phones.

The man and woman wanted to remain anonymous because they said they were afraid of the worker.

“He kept pointing at me and saying he was going to shoot me, shoot my wife and basically shoot everyone in the car,” the man said. “So I got scared. He kept reaching into his pocket and at the same time making gestures with his other hand that he was going to shoot me.”

The postal workers became increasingly agitated and began using racist slurs, the man said.

“He basically said I don’t belong here, that he’s going to shoot me, that I should ‘go back to my country,’ ‘get on welfare,’ you know what not. Just crazy comments. I’ve never seen this man in my life,” the man said.

Officers arrived and removed the couple from the scene. Public Safety confirmed that the postal worker made similar threats and gestures toward police and then attempted to flee.

After talks failed, officials sent a police dog. The postal worker injured the dog with pepper spray.

He was later arrested by officers for criminal threats, obstructing a police officer and injuring a police dog.

Apart from the pepper spray, the worker had no other weapons.

The woman said the incident still shocked her.

“I took his threats very seriously and was scared because no one had ever treated me like that before,” she said. “Especially not a postal worker in my neighborhood.”

Because the worker was classified as mentally ill, he could have been held for up to 72 hours for psychiatric treatment, according to Sunnyvale Public Safety.

As is usual in such cases, very few details have been released about his current status.

NBC Bay Area has reached out to the U.S. Postal Service but has not yet received a response.