Video of questionable arrest of on-duty letter carrier sparks outrage, concern
On March 17 [2016], Brooklyn letter carrier Glen Grays Jr. had parked his postal vehicle and was preparing to deliver a package when he had a troubling encounter with police that led to his arrest. Smartphone video of that arrest sparked outrage and led many, including the mayor of New York and the city’s police commissioner, to raise questions about the police officers’ behavior in the incident.
Glen Grays being arrested NYPD for disorderly conduct. Mail truck left unattended and unsecured raising questions about a possible violation of federal law
Grays, a Brooklyn Branch 41 member, was exiting his vehicle when he noticed a car making a sharp, dangerous
turn near him. Grays had to climb back into his vehicle to avoid getting hit. He allegedly shouted at the driver
of the car. According to Grays, the car came tearing back and the driver said, “I have the right of way because I’m law enforcement.”
Grays continued his attempt to deliver the package when the four plain-clothes officers from the unmarked
police car got out and approached him. An observer recorded a video of the arrest. In the video, the officers demanded Grays’ identification. “My ID’s right there on the side of the truck,” the carrier said. “Let’s go get your ID,” one of the officers said.
Grays told the officer that he had mail to deliver, and the officers then handcuffed and frisked him. They told Grays to stop resisting, though the video doesn’t appear to show evidence of resistance. The carrier said that the officers put him in the back of their car with his hands still cuffed and without a seatbelt, leaving the mail truck unattended. According to Grays, the driver turned around to taunt him and hit the vehicle in front of them, causing the letter carrier to bang his shoulder against the front seat.
He was taken to the 71st Precinct Station, detained for a few hours, and issued a summons for disorderly conduct, a summons that will require him to appear in court. It’s the first time he’s ever been arrested and he has no criminal record.
“I was extremely terrified,” Grays told “CBS This Morning.” “The only thing that saved me, I think, is because
I was on videotape. I was afraid if I didn’t comply, something was going to happen to me. “I don’t hate cops. I’m marrying one,” he said, pointing out that his fiancée is a New York City police officer.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Glen Grays and his mother, Sonya Sapp
“NALC is troubled by this incident,” NALC President Fredric Rolando told The Washington Post. “We trust that
the police department will investigate this matter thoroughly and expeditiously, and that any necessary actions
will be taken.”
The USPS Office of Inspector General has announced that it is investigating the incident, raising questions
about a possible violation of federal law by interrupting mail delivery and leaving mail unsecured.
According to The New York Times, in the last six years at least three of the four involved have been named
in federal civil rights suits alleging false arrest, among other claims, with at least one case settled out of court.
“I would like to believe the majority of our fellow brothers and sisters in law enforcement, who serve the
same communities we do, would be appalled and embarrassed by the lack of respect shown to Brother Grays and
all letter carriers in uniform,” President Rolando said. Read more: NALC Postal Record – May 2016
- Video: NYPD arrests on-duty letter carrier for shouting at them — leaves mail truck unattended
- Video: Postal worker speaks out on controversial NYPD arrest caught on video
- NYPD Officers Involved In On-Duty Postal Worker’s Arrest Disciplined
Is there any other details regarding to this subject in other languages?
OIG investigates letter carrier for abandoning his route and taking an unauthorized break
OIG ivestigates letter carrier for abandoning his route and taking an unauthorized break
Post Office workers were on par with other civil servants concerning respect and pay………both have been in free fall the last 30 years.cops, fire, sanitation all make more. American Airline Flight Dispatchers just got a 40% increase in pay………$140,000 with 20 years seniority. (google it)everybody makes more than a postal worker…….even McDonalds workers will be nipping at their heels with a 15 buck minimum wage. pass out the tin cup!
Those cops should b fired and brought up on charges then they gave him no respect and arrested him in his mail uniform they think there above the law there racists in our communities if that driver was white this shit would not have happened trust me
Hopefully, justice will prevail and a lawsuit will be filed against the police dept and the officers involved.Typical case of arrogant,full of themselves, i rlue the world, police mentality. They think they can do anything and get away with it. Thank God for the video tape and Eric Adams,an honest decent man who took action in this case.
The NALC is upset? Are they upset about the CCA situation and severe abuse of those workers and the conditions they have to work in? I think the cops overreacted with the NYC letter carrier and like a lot of cops I see, probably were abusing their driving privileges. I see cops all the time speeding without the lights or sirens on, failure to use turn signals (a lot), switching lanes and cutting people off in traffic and being some of the worst drivers out there.
Police are brave and put their lives on the line every day, I don’t dispute that for a second. But as in any vocation, you have good and bad. Abusing citizens, driving like maniacs, harassing minorities, is wrong as can be.
This carrier should be exonerated of any charges filed against him, and the local cops should face charges of obstructing government work and leaving mail unattended.
As for the NALC, I hope Mr. Rolando and those involved in contract negotiations are “troubled” not just by this incident and the CCA program, which needs to be shut down immediately with a return to the PTF positions, but some substantial pay increases to reflect the increasing amount of work carriers have to do and having to put up with GPS badgering everyday, exploding parcel business and the extra time it takes to deal with all the scans, and managerial behavior and abuses. I will be furious if we end up with a piss poor 1 or 2% raise like the NRLCA union bent over for and agreed to. We are being expected to do much more, management wants to “award” its members at District levels and higher for “motivating” employees, when those members aren’t even in offices where real work is done, or never go into that part of the building, and has, through its incompetence and criminal neglect allowed five people in Pontiac, Michigan to die inside a year and a half due to methane leaks from a brown field where the toxic fumes were coming into the postal facility, sensors were not working, and management wasn’t keeping track of the logs.
Yes, they were clerks and mail handlers, inside all day or night, but it’s the same management that puts all of us at unnecessary risks all over the country, not to mention LLV’s that are death traps. Replacing them has taken far longer than it should have, and the new ones could and should be in service in a year’s time, not seven or eight years. We must be tough in the NALC. I fear for my retirement benefit security and along with a lot of other letter carriers, feel that the national headquarters is not being publicly aggressive enough.
For too long the problem of bad police has been ignored. In the past the police were always believed. Not any more. Just look at the Chicago police. Ex commander Jon Burge, who served four years in the joint, has cost the tax payers of Chicago 98 million.