Deputies found the man’s body outside the home, with what looked like bite marks “all over his body,” Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said.
Childers said he shot and killed the two dogs, a German shepherd and mastiff, after they behaved aggressively.
The delivery driver was about 50, Childers said. Authorities are waiting to identify the man until the medical examiner has determined the cause of death and notified the man’s family.
“We’re deeply saddened by [Monday’s] tragic incident involving a member of our Amazon family and will be providing support to the team and the driver’s loved ones,” Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski said in a statement.
Dog attacks are commonly reported by delivery workers, but usually result in injury, not death.
In 2021, more than 5,400 postal workers were attacked by dogs, according to the U.S. Postal Service. Kansas City, Mo., had the third-highest number of attacks on letter carriers, with 48 attacks last year.
And one insurer in Colorado found that dog bites accounted for the third most-common injury among Amazon delivery contractors there, according to a 2022 study of injury data by the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions.
Bites sent an Ohio driver to the hospital in August, led a driver this summer to post a video on TikTok about the company’s alleged response to his bite, and once caused Amazon to suspend deliveries to a Florida neighborhood where a worker was attacked, according to news reports.
The Postal Service recommends having dogs inside the house, behind a fence or on a leash when a mail carrier comes to the house, and tells residents to track packages or mail so they know when it’s being delivered.
It’s normal for dogs to be concerned about strangers in their space, and even dogs without a history of aggressive behavior can become protective or cause an accident by being playful, so all dog owners should take precautions to protect mail carriers, said David Rosengard, managing attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
“We, any of us who have dogs, need to be setting them up for success,” he said.
Owners should have a place for packages to be delivered that isn’t accessible to their dogs, whether a front porch, lockbox, or other drop-off area, and keep dogs inside when a delivery is coming. If necessary, they should get a P.O. box.
It was late afternoon or early evening Monday when the worker in Missouri dropped off a package at the house, which authorities later found by the front door. The police had not yet found any neighbors who had seen or heard anything unusual, Childers said.
The house had a fence with a latched gate and “Beware of Dog” signs. It also had a doggy door that allowed the dogs to freely enter the fenced yard, the sheriff said. Neighbors’ homes sit on either side and across the street.
A few neighbors noticed the Amazon van that was sitting in front of the house for two hours and reported it to police about 7 p.m.
When deputies arrived about a half-hour later, they found the driver’s body lying in the grass in the middle of the yard, Childers said.
“It’s tragic all the way around,” Childers, who had spoken with the man’s family, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “The loss of a human life is obviously the number one most important thing. It’s horrible to see that. … It’s heartbreaking.”
The deputies found the dogs behind the home’s fence,…
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