A mail carrier was assaulted and robbed Wednesday in San Francisco, police said, as package thieves appear to be skipping the front porch and zeroing in on mail trucks.
Back in June and July, four locked postal trucks were broken into in San Jose while the carriers were away on delievries, the U.S. Postal Service said.
In the latest incident, a mail carrier in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley neighborhood was pushed to the ground while two thieves stole packages and mail.
Residents of Campbell Avenue received letters from the postmaster Thursday telling them their mail carrier was the victim of a strong-arm robbery.
"It's kind of frightening," neighbor Dana Harrison said. "I think of them as first responders in the neighborhood, friends really, or distant family."
Mail carriers are issued pepper spray and instructed to be aware of their surroundings when they are out on deliveries.
The USPS says it has daily safety meetings with carriers, urging caution. At a postal distribution center Thursday, carriers said they had not yet been told about the incident.
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San Francisco police ask anyone who might have captured video of the incident to contact them.
