An Ohio postal worker was pulled over for racing someone driving a Mustang, and the officer's body cam footage was released.
Check out this exchange:
The first funny part is the officer going to the wrong side of the van.
Oops!
He forgot postal workers drive on the wrong side of the car like the Brits.
The second funny thing is this little bit of dialogue:
Yeah. I mean, that Mustang took off. He caught my attention, and then you blew by him, and I was pacing you at like 105.
When I saw him take off I go, ‘You have my attention,' and then you went by. I'm like ‘You've got to be kidding me.'
So he saw me coming up behind him and he did the right thing and stopped, or slowed down, and you continued.
105 off the block?
Good grief!
How fast can those vans go?
The last thing that's worth noting is the little smirk the postal worker has through the entire encounter.
Why is she smiling?
Consider, the details of the what happened after the stop:
Court records identify the driver as Drew Brown, 28, of Fremont. She waived the case, which is now closed, and paid $50 as the first installment of a $240 fine for the traffic violation after receiving a verbal warning for racing.
- A verbal warning?
- The postal worker waived the case?
- A $240 fine issued after the fact?
If that were you or me, we might be looking at much larger fines, having our car impounded, and maybe jail time for recklessly driving 105 mph while street racing.
It turns out postal workers enjoy some federal immunity from local and state traffic laws. While the Post Master General has instructed them to obey those laws and made them subject to whatever fines they receive, ticketing and prosecuting remains tricky thanks to 18 U.S. Code § 1701.
Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
There have been many a court case over the years for situations just like this one, and the resolutions are not consistent.
While it's not illegal to cite a postal worker for breaking traffic laws, and they have to pay whatever fines they incur, the whole obstructing and retarding the passage of the mail thing complicates the process for officers trying to enforce those laws.
As long as the drivers are cordial, the process usually goes along the route of this case, and then the USPS also disciplines the driver.
Spokeswoman Naddia Dhalai of USPS said,
Drew Brown is an employee. It is under investigation and as a matter of policy, we are unable to comment further on a specific individual personnel matter.
According to some uppity postal workers on Reddit, that probably means Brown will get sent back to vehicle training.
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