Postal worker attacked, robbed while on the job in Millburn, N.J.
MILLBURN, N.J. -- Police are investigating a terrifying attack on a postal worker in Essex County.
He was roughed up while working in the middle of the afternoon back on May 12.
It happened while the mailman was making his rounds in Millburn and he says the attackers got what they were after.
Video shows the attackers chasing the postal worker and then shove him to the ground, as he told Siri to call 911. They rough him up and then take off. He then flags down a car.
"Hey, call the cops, call the cops," the worker says on video.
At the time of the attack he was working his route on Walnut Avenue near Mountainview Road.
READ MORE: U.S. Postal Service dealing with skyrocketing cases of change-of-address fraud
Witness Lenny Weiland was inside his house.
"My wife was upstairs and when I saw what was happening, I said, 'Elaine, call the police. They are attacking the mailman,'" Weiland said.
The postal worker eventually got through to police and told them the attackers were apparently after one of his keys.
"They took my arrow key," he said.
"So they were after the keys for the blue post office boxes around town, not that there are many of them," Weiland said.
READ MORE: Queens Congresswoman Grace Meng spearheading charge to end mail theft in Queens
Weiland said the two attackers seemed to be lying in wait.
"They approached him between those two units. They took advantage of the hidden alleyway created by the storage pod and the dumpster," Weiland said.
In fact, the postal worker said he suspected something was up because he saw the men walking around earlier.
The worker was back making his appointed rounds on Tuesday, but didn't want to talk about what happened.
Weiland said it didn't seem like the attackers had a weapon of any kind, adding it appears they fled in a silver Mercedes.
The post office had no comment.
Weiland said the mailman was only on his second day on the job.
6/2/23 Update: Zachary Lyttle charged after attack on postal worker in Millburn, New Jersey