East Nashville woman claims mail carrier threatened, harassed her

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - An East Nashville woman said what started with her asking questions about missing mail escalated to threats from her postal carrier.

For months, Mamie Turner was used to finding an empty mailbox. She said mail went missing, including medication.

“I was hurting,” she said. “My blood pressure went up because I’m dealing with arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. I have psoriasis and alopecia on my scalp. So, it itches all the time and so what am I supposed to do?”

But she said asking about missing mail with her carrier got ugly.

“She called me a ‘black B’ and then told me to kiss her black you know what and then said, ‘go tell your mayor that,’” said Turner.

After that, Turner said she tried asking the United States Postal Service for a different carrier and put in three different complaints. She also filed a police report with Metro Nashville Police against the one who threatened her.

The problem is, that she doesn’t know her carrier’s name, and according to a police report, MNPD said they couldn’t get that information from USPS either.

Without that, MNPD will have to close her case.

WSMV4 reached out to USPS who told us they weren’t aware of any delivery issues for her address. And when it comes to police, the spokesperson with USPS said she can’t see if MNPD reached out to them.

In the end, WMSV4 was told to email our questions again to USPS, which they would forward to an inspector.

Now it’s a waiting game Turner says she already played.

“As a child, I always thought postal workers were the best, friendliest people that you could meet,” said Turner.

She added if the USPS keeps closing her complaints, she will keep filing more police reports.

After our story aired WSMV4 received the following statement from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service:

Protecting the Postal Service, its employees, and its customers is the core mission of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; therefore, Postal Inspectors follow-up on all reports of threatening language directed at postal employees. On approximately May 2, 2023, Postal Inspectors were notified by Postal Management that a Postal Customer had reportedly mentioned owning or acquiring a firearm while accusing her Letter Carrier of intentionally mis-handling her mail. In previous interactions with postal managers, the same customer had provided conflicting details, seemed confused when asked for additional information, and yelled at postal managers.

To determine the customer’s well-being and assess potential violence toward Postal employees, Postal Inspectors contacted Metro Nashville Police Department’s Madison Precinct, informed them of the nature of the customer’s interactions with USPS personnel, and requested Officers conduct a welfare check. Postal Inspectors requested Officers contact them if they believed the customer posed a threat to Postal employees but received no follow-up communications from Metro Nashville Police Department.

If you believe you have been the victim of a postal-related crime, report it to the United States Postal Inspection Service by submitting an online complaint at www.uspis.gov or by phone at 877-876-2455.

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