A Michigan man was charged Friday with allegedly assaulting a mail carrier over a “Kamala Harris for President” mailer that the mail carrier delivered to his mailbox.
Russell Frank Valleau, 61, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, was charged by Oakland County, Michigan Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald with assaulting a mail carrier.
“The defendant was allegedly upset that he had received mail regarding presidential candidate Kamala Harris and allegedly said that he did not want that ‘black b****’ in his mailbox,” according to press release from the Oakland County, Michigan prosecutor’s office said. “He then called the mail carrier a ‘black b****’ and threatened the carrier. The mail carrier used pepper spray to stop the defendant.”
🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/
Probably wasn’t labeled as pepper spray. We aren’t allowed any extra weapons on the job. But we are given Dog Spray. She sprayed him with Dog Spray. Which to be fair, is essentially pepper spray. But the label reads Dog Spray.
This is somehow the Democrats fault. They need to tone down their violent rhetoric 😭
/s
FUCK YOUR FEELINGS but if you UPSET Me I’m going to STAB you!
Tolerates decades of spam in his mailbox. Has melt down when one contains a black female politician.
“Why do they have to make my mail POLITICAL??”
That poor snowflake. I get Harris, Trump, and every single damn person that’s running for office in my mail. Except for some reason I get duplicates of the Trump ones.
The thing is, it’s worked. Simply by doubling up the lies changed my mind. If they are that so sure about the things they say and say it with conviction without nary a difference it must be true.
Nah, just more recycling.
Not putting out a Harris/Walz yard sign was a good move I feel.
I don’t understand why anyone puts up a sign for the major presidential candidates. What is the point? People already know who they are. All you’re doing is advertising your position.
NGL it is reassuring and even a bit motivating to see the signs when you’re in a red or purple state.
I live in a very diverse, quiet, and friendly neighborhood, but I’m still nervous about putting out a Harris/Walz sign.
In reality it’s not likely to be a problem, if only because humans are animals and as a result are mostly idiot cowards and will usually engage in threat displays before actual violence, but there’s no point in tempting rabid dogs.
Important detail missing from this article:
He’s accused of yelling derogatory, racist and sexual remarks about Harris and the carrier, calling the postal carrier a “Black b****” and lunging at her with a knife.
emphasis mine
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/postal-carrier-assault-kamala-harris-flyer/
I’m shocked, the title of the story left so much out, I was really wondering who the unhinged, deranged psychopath was in a story about someone assaulting a mail carrier for delivering the mail.
Spicy eyes! Spicy eyes!
When there a vidoes of everything these days why couldn’t there be one of this jackass getting pepper sprayed.
Hear, hear😓
this country is so cool i love living here
I tell ya what, it’s not boring. That’s for sure.
Conservatives: Liberals always think about race and only voting for her because she’s a black woman. They should vote for the person qualified.
Also conservatives: I do not want that black bitch in my mailbox.
He was charged with one count of ethnic intimidation, a felony, and one count of assault and battery, which is a misdemeanor…
Huh? Shouldn’t the crime of actually harming someone be at least as serious as threatening to?
In this case there was a knife involved and clearly the mail carrier wasn’t threatening him (maybe his poor fee-fees) so that should be a felony. If he’d attack someone for doing their job he’d probably attack someone for stepping on his lawn or using his driveway to turn around.
Oh noes! Not his fee-fees!
There’s a lot more gradation in laws against actually hurting people. I’m guessing misdemeanor assault here means that an attempt was made, but maybe he punched the carrier once and the pepper spray stopped him. An aggressive threat and a fairly ineffective attack? That kinda makes sense to me
“Assault” is shouting and threatening, “battery” is actually making contact. It sounds like she got the pepper spray out in time to prevent him from touching her, whichbis a very good thing.
Hmm. I can see that.
Am I missing the description of the assault? The story doesn’t mention him laying hands on her or spitting or anything. Honestly from the account presented it sounds like he was assaulted. He does sound like a racist asshole, but is that assault?
Depends on the state. Most states from my understanding work like this:
Threatening to throw a rock and/or actually throwing it is assault. When / If the rock hits them then that’s battery.
So in this case the threat of violence is the assault. Had he actually made contact then it would have been battery too.
He’s accused of yelling derogatory, racist and sexual remarks about Harris and the carrier, calling the postal carrier a “Black b****” and lunging at her with a knife.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/postal-carrier-assault-kamala-harris-flyer/
There is is. If this article hadn’t omitted the whole ‘lunging at her with a knife’ bit, the assault charges would be obvious. Props to CBS for being able to provide what used to be the bare minimum. Thank you PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
Technically assault does not require contact:
In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both.
Some jurisdictions have the misdemeanor charge of ‘menacing’ for when contact isn’t made.
TIL. Thank you for clarifying that for me.
Doesn’t this count as a hate crime if the guy was saying heinous shit right before the assault?
Indeed. And he was charged for that.
charged with allegedly assaulting
Is this correct use of “allegedly”? The man allegedly assaulted someone, so he was charged with assault. Or they can just say “charged for allegedly assaulting”.
It’s a means for the news source to cover its ass. They can’t outright say it as a fact otherwise they run the risk of getting sued if the courts find the man innocent.
They can’t say that the man assaulted someone as a fact. But that the man was charged with assault is a fact. Alleged attack is not a charge, so “charged with allegedly attacking” is nonsensical. To cover their ass they can say “charged for allegedly attacking”, which shows that he was charged, why he was charged, and also adds the required “allegedly”.
Wait we can do that? I’m in MI and get 5-6 Trump flyers a week. I don’t want that orange bitch in my mailbox.
