CBS2 Exclusive: Postal Worker, Brooklyn Resident Have Different Stories About Violent Encounter
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A veteran of the U.S. Postal Service was confronted, kicked and attacked by a dog, and then hit with flying packages in Brooklyn this week – but there are differing stories of what happened.
Both the mailman and the angry resident spoke exclusively with CBS2's Dave Carlin.
In surveillance video, John Chen was seen working his mail route in Dyker Heights. He drops off a package at a home on 12th Avenue, and only after he leaves does he realize he has left it at the wrong address.
"I dropped to the wrong house by mistake," Chen said.
Through the door, Chen talked to resident Nicole Bommarito.
"I went to get it back, and she won't give it back," Chen said.
Chen admitted that he was persistent and rang the doorbell repeatedly. But the scene then changed rapidly.
Surveillance video shows the door opening, and Bommarito's leg kicking at Chen, before her 7-year-old English bulldog came out.
The fight was ugly, and there was more to come afterward.
"I still want to get the package back and though she kicked me," Chen said.
Bommarito returned, flinging the box and mail at Chen. He retreated, rattled but not physically injured.
Chen said he has been the Post Office for 26 years, and never before has he gone through something similar.
But his account differed wildly from the one given to CBS2 by the woman in the video.
"(The dog) was just protecting me, and that's what he always does -- he protects!" she said.
Bommarito said Chen invaded her home and came all the way inside.
"I told him, 'Wait, I'm going to bring the box out to you.' I close the door to get my dog to go back, and then he opened the door to walked in to do it himself -- into my house," Bommarito said. "And that's when my dog went after him. My dog didn't hurt him. My dog just scared him away."
Chen denied that he entered the house, and said Bommarito began throwing things at him just because he was persistent with ringing the doorbell.
"Now she's getting mad because I ring her bell. I ring her bell again a couple of times," he said.
After getting both sides of the story, police did not arrest or charge anyone. But once they see the video, that could change.
Chen said he will decide later whether the file harassment charges. Bommarito said she lodged a formal complaint with the Postal Service.