Jesus J. Ramos, a letter carrier on Miami Beach, delivers mail on Ocean Drive Friday Dec. 19, 2014. WALTER MICHOT MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Miami Beach is one of the last places in the United States where carriers still use bicycles to deliver mail. So when the bright yellow two-wheeler of postal carrier Richard Williams went missing, along with a satchel of undelivered mail, police and postal inspectors didn’t treat it like a prank. They employed modern sleuthing to crack the case, making an arrest earlier this month.
The theft was a rarity for the U.S. Postal Service’s small fleet of bike-riding carriers. Today, the Service deploys two-wheel carriers in just two states — 47 across Arizona, 17 in St. Petersburg and a dozen in South Beach.
Fortunately, no one was hurt or injured in the South Beach postal bike caper back in March.
Carrier Richard Williams was pedaling his way through his route when he stopped to deliver mail inside an apartment building in the 800 block of Meridian Avenue, according to an arrest warrant.
When Williams emerged, a woman pushing a baby stroller told him that she had seen two young men and a woman make off with the bicycle.
Miami Beach police scoured the neighborhood and quickly found the bike abandoned at Euclid Avenue and Eighth Street, left leaning on some bushes. Also found in a nearby alleyway: a U.S. Mail placard removed from the bike and the satchel of mail
would look muck cooler if he was delivering mail on a new kawasaki ninja H2R! 300hp turbo on 400lb frame=250mph top speed. new meaning to the we deliver.