Postal carrier seen pepper spraying dogs behind fence, owner says. ‘Just to be mean’
An Oklahoma woman said she wants action taken after her home surveillance camera caught a United States Postal Service worker seemingly pepper spraying her dogs, news outlets reported.
Kaysie Ribelin said her two dogs were barking behind a fence on the side of her Warr Acres home when the postal carrier walked up to the gate, pepper sprayed the dogs and walked away laughing on Thursday, Nov. 2, KWTV reported.
Ribelin told KFOR she has multiple cameras outside her home, including a Ring Doorbell camera next to her mailbox.
“I didn’t have any mail that day, so he walked past that camera. The second video is him walking up to my gate,” Ribelin told KOCO.
Video shared by Ribelin on TikTok shows the USPS worker walking up to the wooden fence. He can be heard saying, “you better run,” before spraying at the dogs.
As the mail carrier is walking away, he can be heard saying, “these dogs know bro,” and laughing.
“Spite, maliciousness, just to be mean,” Ribelin told KWTV. “Just shock. I can’t believe someone would do such a thing.”
USPS said in a statement to KWTV that “local management” is aware of the video and that “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,” the statement said, according to the outlet.
Ribelin told KFOR that the dogs weren’t hit directly in the face and that they’re doing well.
She said the dogs were behind a stockade fence and the mail carrier was in no danger, KOCO reported.
Ribelin shared photos of the dogs, Millie Mae and Murphey, with McClatchy News.
“Now I have to constantly worry about whether my dogs will be safe in their own backyard,” Ribelin told McClatchy News.
Ribelin reached out to USPS after she saw the footage caught by her cameras, KFOR reported.
“They said just, okay, well, he’ll be disciplined,” Ribelin told KFOR. “And they said, well, we can’t terminate him based on that.”
Ribelin told McClatchy News she wants to press charges against the mail carrier, but was told she couldn’t.
“I am disappointed that the USPS equates what happened to a simple inconvenience and not the criminal act that it was. I’m just as disappointed in local law enforcement that refused to accept my complaint and request to press charges against the letter carrier,” she said.
McClatchy News reached out to the Warr Acres Police Department Nov. 5, but did not immediately hear back.
Warr Acres is about 10 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.
This story was originally published November 5, 2023 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Postal carrier seen pepper spraying dogs behind fence, owner says. ‘Just to be mean’."
