A Denver mailman says he was just doing his job when he saw a dead body in front of the home he was delivering mail to and thought it was a Halloween decoration. It’s what he did next that’s disturbing some people.
“Why didn’t he do anything?”
The question Hedy Porch keeps asking, after she says a mailman stepped over her husband’s body to put letters in the mailbox and then walked away.
“I don’t know how that man can sleep at night.”
Last Friday morning, her husband, Dale Porch was dropped off at home after working the graveyard shift for RTD.
Family members say he never made it inside.
“My brother-in-law walked up these steps, got to this step here, and collapsed. So the mailman literally was right here, he was right here, collapsed on this step.”
More than an hour after that, family members say, Dale’s body was found. He was just 46 years old.
While waiting for an autopsy to discover the cause of death, they wonder whether it could have been prevented.
“His body was still warm when he was found, so perhaps if the mailman had done something, he would still be alive today.”
But the mailman has since said he thought the body was a mannequin, somehow related to Halloween.
In an email to 7News, the postal service defends the long-time carrier, saying “he is someone who would not fail to help a customer, if he knew they were in need.”
But as the Porch family mourns their loss, they say that’s exactly what happened.
“It’s appalling and I just think something needs to be done, said, a lesson learned. I don’t know. Just people need to hear it.”
The postal service says it does train its carriers in emergency situations.
They add that this particular situation would not have happened any other time of the year.
As for the mailman, he’s still on the job.
