USPS Apologizes After Letter Carrier Pepper Sprayed Dogs On Other Side Of Fence

The U.S. Postal Service apologized for an incident in which a letter carrier was caught on camera using what appeared to be pepper spray on dogs that were not a threat.

On Thursday, Kaysie Ribelin's security camera captured the letter carrier walking up to the fence on the side of her home in Warr Acres. As the letter carrier approached the fence, he could be heard saying, "You better run!" He then sprayed Ribelin's two dogs on the other side of the fence before walking away. Laughter could be heard in the background.

Ribelin said she believed the letter carrier used pepper spray on her two dogs because she could see a chemical mark on the grass.

"Spite, maliciousness, just to be mean," Ribelin said of what the letter carrier did. "Just shock. I can't believe someone would do such a thing."

Ribelin said the letter carrier went out of his way to spray her two dogs because her mailbox was located next to her front door, far from the fence. Ribelin said she didn't even get any mail on Thursday, so the letter carrier had no reason to be at her home. Ribelin said her dogs were only barking.

"If they were of imminent danger to him, charging him, unleashed, absolutely, I can understand him feeling threatened and needing to protect himself," said Ribelin. "But he was in no danger from those two dogs."

Ribelin said since the mail carrier sprayed her dogs, they have been more skittish toward strangers.

"Dogs are your children. They're your family. So of course it's upsetting when someone tries to hurt them," said Ribelin.

Ribelin said she contacted the local post office and sent over the video.

"They called me and apologized for his behavior and said that he would be disciplined," Ribelin recalled.

News 9 also reached out to the U.S. Postal Service, which sent the following statement:

“The Postal Service strives to always provide the best possible service to our valued customers. It is disappointing when, on rare occurrences, we fall short of that goal. Local management was made aware of this video shortly after the customer brought it to their attention and it has been addressed with the letter carrier. This is clearly unacceptable behavior and does not reflect the efforts of the thousands of professional, dedicated letter carriers in our workforce. We apologize to our valued customer for any inconvenience caused.”

Ribelin said she hopes the letter carrier will apologize to her in person.

"How dare you take out whatever frustrations you have on someone else's animals?" Ribelin asked.