A USPS employee in Blaine, WA, has received the top hero of the year award from the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association for saving a customer from a vicious dog attack.
On the day of the attack, Rural Carrier David Hamilton was heading back to the local Post Office after completing his deliveries when he saw a large, unleashed dog attacking an older woman and her small dog.
Hamilton jumped out of his vehicle to protect the woman, whose arm had been injured after the larger dog knocked her to the ground. He threw an empty mail tub at the animal, causing it to release the smaller dog from its jaws.
When the larger dog turned to attack him, Hamilton fought it off with an ice scraper. He then led the woman and her dog into the back of his vehicle.
When the dog attacked a third time, a neighbor and three landscapers safely ushered it away.
Hamilton, a 20-year USPS veteran, received the union’s National Hero of the Year Award at a ceremony in Orlando, FL.
“I was exhilarated,” he said afterward. “This experience is absolutely the pinnacle of my career.”
Three other Postal Service employees received hero of the year awards from the union:
• Newcastle, ME, Rural Carrier Alex Tomasello waded into the cold waters of the Sheepscot River to rescue a man from being washed downstream. He then helped carry the man up the riverbank, where an ambulance subsequently took him to a nearby hospital.
• Oakland, IL, Rural Carrier Keri VanEtta saw black smoke coming from a vehicle so she motioned for the motorist to pull over and then called 911. The two moved to a safe location before the car went up in flames.
• Kerrville, TX, Rural Carrier Lisa Ann Wagner noticed an older customer’s mail piling up, but repeated calls and texts went unanswered, so she and her husband went to the customer’s home to check on her. They heard the severely dehydrated woman inside cry for help, so they called 911. Paramedics then took the customer to a nearby hospital to treat her broken hip. Wagner subsequently visited the woman every day during her recovery.
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