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Arrested in connection with the attack was Anthony Vega-Lopez, 26, of the 700 block of Lalor Street, Trenton. He was charged with aggravated assault and will be held in the Mercer County Correctional Facility on $50,000 bail.
Police say Vega-Lopez, a resident of the Trenton side of Lalor, allegedly beat the mailman after he opened the door of the alleged assailant’s home on the 700 block of Lalor to drop mail through the slot on the door and left.
"The resident didn’t like the way the mailman shut his storm door," Kostoplis offered as a motive for the attack.
Vega-Lopez allegedly stoppped the attack and ran back home as soon as he heard police sirens, police said.
The officers arrested Vega-Lopez without incident.
Investigators with the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office are also investigating the incident to determine if federal charges will be lodged, Kostoplis said.
"This was a severe beating and it was unprovoked," Kostoplis said. "The mailman may be in the hospital for some time."
While shocked at the attack, residents lamented the possibility that their mailman might not return.
"Nobody is going to want to deliver mail here anymore," said a witness.
Witnesses said the mailman was on the job for only a year and was a very nice person.
"I was surprised that it even happened to my mailman," said "Mamita," a neighbor who asked not to have her real name published.
"He’s been here a long time and he was a real nice man."
A witness to the attack said it was particularly brutal and bloody.
"The mailman was putting mail in my box when my neighbor came up to the mailman from behind from across the street, grabbed him and pulled him off the porch to the ground," said another Lalor Street resident who doesn’t want to be identified for fear of possible retribution.
"My neighbor started beating the mailman with his bare hands and fists. He was really beating him badly. He beat him so badly that my neighbor broke the mailman’s glasses and beat him unconscious. I don’t know the neighbors across the street," the Lalor Street resident added. "There was blood all over the mailman. It was horrible. My neighbor attacked the poor man from behind. That’s horrible."
That neighbor described the mailman as being a skinny black man who was well liked in the community and always said hello to everyone.
"I was happy to see him coming," another neighbor said.
"He’s a very pleasant man. I don’t believe anybody could do this to him. He wouldn’t hurt anybody and is so polite."
Paramedics treated the mailman at the scene by putting a neck brace on and bandaging his wounds.
"He woke up in the ambulance and complained that his head hurt," another eyewitness said. "He was so sweet to the paramedics even in all of his pain."
The mailman was transported to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital where he was undergoing testing last night, Kostoplis said.
