The death of a California letter carrier earlier this month, after a serious injury sustained during a dog bite in May, has once again highlighted the special dangers that postal workers face from vicious dogs.
Eddie Lin had been going about his normal mail delivery duties on May 23rd, when he happened to catch the attention of a Rottweiler in a house. What happened next was the stuff of every letter carrier’s nightmare. The animal managed to make its way out of the house, and chased Lin down the road. It finally lunged at the letter carrier, knocking him to the ground. Lin hit his head on the ground, and suffered serious brain injuries. He was found by a passerby a little while later. He was rushed to the hospital, where he remained in intensive care until he died on June 3rd. It’s not known yet if the Rottweiler managed to bite Lynn.
Oceanside police are investigating the incident, and the US Postal Inspection Service has already started its investigations into the attack. The Rottweiler has since been euthanized. Police have not determined if they are going to bring criminal charges against the owner of the dog.
The attack came just at the end of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, a nationwide effort supported by dog bite attorneys in Los Angeles, and aimed at bringing attention to the approximately 1.4 million dog bites that occur in the US every year. Postal workers, because of the nature of their duties, are at a much higher risk of suffering a dog bite than the general population. According to the Postal Service, last year more than 2,800 mail carriers suffered dog bite incidents. Letter carriers in California seem to be especially prone to dog bite attacks. Most of these attacks occurred in the Orange County and Los Angeles county areas.
There is much that property owners can do to prevent their dogs from attacking postal workers. Have warning signs posted outside the gate, informing visitors of a dog on the premises. Make sure your dog is totally secured when the mail carrier comes in to deliver the mail. Make sure your dog is restrained, and unable to escape your property.
