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UPS driver goes postal

July 8, 2015

By KAREN VELIE

A UPS driver delivered more than a package to an assisted living facility in Atascadero in late May. The driver also kicked a small dog before assaulting the dog’s owner.

On May 28, Tim Paulsen arrived for the afternoon shift at a 15 person assisted living facility in Atascadero with his two dogs, Patch and Bonnie Bell. The white American Eskimo and black Scottish Terrier work with residents at the facility.

The dogs ran up to the driver barking and the UPS employee responded by kicking Patch in the head. Patch rolled on the ground howling, prompting her owner, Paulsen, to run towards the driver.

The driver then shoved Paulsen, who had broken ribs in a motorcycle accident several years earlier.

UPS“As I went to retrieve the dog, the driver then hit me in the chest, dislocating my rib from my solar plexus and re-breaking one of my ribs,” Paulsen said. “This assault was completely unprovoked. The driver threatened to kick me as I tried to calm the situation down.”

Richard, a resident at the facility who witnessed the incident, said the dogs are very friendly and were not acting aggressively. Richard asked that his last name not be published.

“The dogs were just barking and did not attack anyone,” Richard said. “He kicked the dog twice and it screamed.”

After the residents went to bed, Paulsen called the Atascadero Police Department. The department is putting together a report it plans to send to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s office in the next few days, Commander Joe Allen said.

The driver told officers he felt threatened by both the dog and Paulsen, Allen said. Surveillance video at the facility captured the incident.

Officials at UPS did not disclose if the driver was reprimanded or the driver’s name. Nevertheless, Paulsen said he has seen the driver working the same route since the incident and does not think UPS handled the incident appropriately.

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In these days and times you can loose a lot over being sued for your dog biting someone even another dog.Most people with aggressive dogs keep them leashed or confined away from delivery people.So I doubt these dogs or dog would of bit the UPS man they were just doing what dogs do bark at what they perceive as an intruder.I am guessing that the UPS driver is not a dog lover large or small whether they are quietly watching or barking at him.


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I guess you’ve never heard of people who are immune to lawsuits because they don’t have a pot to pee in? I also guess that you’ve probably never heard of irresponsible dog owners whose roaming dogs have killed people. It’s rare, but it happens.


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Yes I can believe that some people don’t have a pot to pee in but most of us do and yes I have heard of dogs that have killed people usually they are A LOT larger than what that dog looks may be 20 pounds??


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“After the residents went to bed, Paulsen called the Atascadero Police Department.”


Translation: after settling on his story, Paulsen remembered that UPS has deep pockets, and hours later decided a crime must have been committed.


I hope the driver counter-sues. Your dogs were aggressive, you then RAN full speed up to the driver in a most-threatening manner…


Sounds like this dude just hopes UPS settles out of court. There is plenty of human excrement that will take this case based on that gamble alone.


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I’ll have to side withe UPS driver regarding the dog incident. It appears that the dog, although small, was aggressively approaching the UPS driver. Some dogs react differently against people who appear to be in uniform and this may be the case her. I think most people would have reacted against the dog under similar circumstance.


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Funny. UPS goes postal. Not UPS goes UPS or Navy Shipyard or Church or High School but postal.


Anyway, the dog is in the UPS guy’s space unleashed and not even in verbal control of an owner. The dog is so close to the UPS driver that he can kick it without taking a step. That’s not ok. Same for the owner. The owner rushes the UPS guy not the other way around. What do you do when you’re being rushed by a person, stick your chin out? What do you do when an aggressive dog is within inches of you?


Watch the video again. The UPS driver is playing all defense here against an aggressive dog and an aggressive owner. The UPS driver is just trying to get to his truck and never makes any effort to get in the dog’s space or the owner’s space. It is the dog and the owner who get in the UPS driver’s space in very threatening aggressive ways not the other way around.


Bad dog bad owner.


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I was bitten this year by a dog. The owner was more concerned that her dog would be put down than my bleeding leg! Emergency room reported the biting. I never heard about the dog but I have a scar on my leg. So stupid to have dogs that bite. Dogs should not be running at people. Yes keep them on a leash!


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L E A S H L A W


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I am with the UPS guy. Why should an employee have to get nipped at and bitten?


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If “going postal” means protecting yourself from a little, yapping dog…then fine. I side with the UPS driver.


Mr. Paulsen: next time put your dogs on leashes and stop complaining. I’ve told my kids to do the same thing to any dog who aggressively confronts them: kick ’em and kick ’em hard!


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Even if he felt threatened by the dog, HE was the aggressor towards the human.


He kicked my dog I would have run up and gotten in his face too. UPS will do nothing IMO.


They drive thru my neighborhood like cats with their tails on fire, UPS has never done anything to try to get them to obey the speed limit.


They park in red zones all the time, but again UPS has a fund set up to pay all the tickets, and our police chief states they are good drivers and they are only parked in the red zone for a few minutes.


If I parked in the red zone and a cop drives by I get a ticket, does not matter I am only parked for a few minutes.


I am tired of UPS’s attitude from throwing fragile items over fences, to now kicking a dog twice and assaulting the owner.


I think he needs a swift kick or two to the family jewels.


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Are you going to do the kicking?


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You must have been watching a different video. Driver was totally reasonable in his actions / reactions. Little crap dogs like that are the biters and he was about to get bit. No reason to wait till it sinks it’s teeth in. Top that off with an aggressive dog owner coming at him like he did, I can just imagine the verbal aspect of the aggressor but his posturing was all about offense.


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Yep. The video footage should save the driver’s job. He acted in an appropriate manner. Sure, UPS will issue an apology but I hope they don’t pay a dime to the yappy dogs’ owner and I hope the driver doesn’t get reprimanded.


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