Neighbors in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, about 30 miles east of Kansas City, alerted police about an idling Amazon truck parked for hours on their street, with the lights on, on Monday night, October 24. Police responded and found an Amazon delivery driver, in his 50’s, dead on a fenced-in front lawn, apparently the victim of mauling by the home’s two dogs.
Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said, “We can tell by looking at the victim’s body he had a ton of trauma that would be consistent with canine bites all over his body.”
The driver had entered the fenced-in yard and delivered the package at the unoccupied home, and was mauled by the two dogs, a German Shepherd and a mastiff.
When the officers approached the dogs, they growled and took attack postures. An officer tried to subdue the dogs, at which point one of the dogs became more aggressive and the officer shot it.
The wounded dog and the second dog both ran inside the house, and the deputies followed. Sheriff Childers said he made the decision to follow the dogs, and when the dogs tried to attack the officers, both dogs were killed by gunfire.
Sheriff Childers said the owners of the dogs were not at home.
The Missouri incident is the second fatal attack on a delivery driver since August of this year.
The US Postal Service reports that 5,400 employees were attacked by dogs in 2021.
Five dogs maimed a Florida postal worker after her vehicle broke down.
The day after the attack, Amazon tweeted a statement to its employees: “We want to help ensure you aren’t surprised by our four-legged customers when on-route, so be sure to check the Amazon Delivery App for the paw print icon in the ‘delivery notes,’ indicating you should ‘be aware of a dog at this stop.’ If we know Fido is nearby, we’ll add the paw print to give you a heads-up.”
The tweet was offensive to many social media users and Amazon workers due to the light-hearted tone, which seemed very much in contrast to the tragedy and risks that the tweet appeared to be addressing.