CHATTANOOGA, TN (WRCB) – UPDATE: We have all become frustrated before when the mail is late. But one Chattanooga man took his anger to an extreme. Police say the man punched his mailman in the face over not receiving a package.

Twenty-five-year-old Travis Smith could be facing federal charges for attacking his mailman. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says it is taking this investigation “very seriously.”

“We’re technically federal employees so anything you do to a federal employee falls under a federal crime. It’s not just like a state crime or a city crime,” says R.J. Hoffman.

R.J. Hoffman is the vice president for the Tennessee Postal Workers Union.

“To have to deal with enraged customers should not happen. In no business should that type of thing happen,” he says.

Police say the USPS worker was on his normal route along Long Street Saturday. Twenty-five-year-old Travis Smith walked up to his vehicle, upset that a package he was expecting did not arrive, and started punching him in the face.

The mailman drove himself to the hospital in a blood-soaked uniform.

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UPDATE: Chattanooga postal worker assaulted