LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- For Jody Schmidt, seeing the mail truck drive by her house is just a tease. For nearly a week, mail on her block on South Arbutus Street in Lakewood has been MIA.
"No mail for me," said Schmidt. "It just stopped one day, and we didn't know why."
It turns out -- nobody wants to deliver it after the neighborhood’s mail carrier was attacked by a dog last Thursday.
According to witnesses, the boxer jumped the 6-foot fence and bit mail man in the leg. The wound required 36 stitches.
The United States Postal Service quickly suspended service to not just that home, but seven surrounding neighbors on South Arbutus Street as well.
"I understand that the poor mail carrier is traumatized, but nobody notified us. You don’t get mail one day – OK, no big deal. The second day? What the heck’s going on?" said Schmidt.
According to Lakewood Police, animal control impounded the boxer at Foothills Animal Shelter, and its owner was issued a summons for an aggressive animal.
The USPS refuses to resume service over concerns of a second dangerous dog on the owner's property.
"Until the threats are removed, the Postal Service has made the decision to suspend service to residents between the 600 and 750 block of Arbutus Street," read, in part, a USPS statement to Denver7.
The USPS said customers' mail would be available for pick up at its Lakewood Station, 10799 W. Alameda Avenue, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays between 9:30 a.m. and noon.
Schmidt doesn't understand why they're being punished for something their neighbor did.
"We’re kind of at the whim of the neighbor. If he doesn’t decide to do anything about it, we’re stuck," said Schmidt.
