A 22-year-old Chester man has been charged with threatening a postal worker last year after a “violent verbal altercation,” according to a press release Friday from Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer’s office.
“Since the earliest days of the postal service, the safety and security of mail carriers has been of paramount importance,” Stollsteimer said. “Our system for distributing mail cannot function unless carriers feel confident about their physical safety. That is why today’s charges are so important: We want to remind the community that we have a zero tolerance for threatening behavior directed at mail carriers, and we will prosecute bad actors to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to the release, Khaheem A. Pharr got into an argument with the postal worker July 1 while the carrier was delivering mail outside of a convenience store in the 2700 block of West 12th Street.
The carrier attempted to leave the scene multiple times, but was repeatedly blocked by Pharr, according to the release. When he was eventually able to leave the area, Pharr allegedly followed him and yelled obscenities, then tried to get the carrier to go into a nearby alley with him.
The mail carrier remained in his USPS delivery vehicle and called the Chester Post Office for assistance. Pharr allegedly yelled, “You gonna die” at the carrier multiple times.
Before help arrived, a friend of Pharr’s allegedly joined him at the scene armed with a firearm with extended magazine. There was a brief episode of punches thrown between Pharr and mail carrier after Pharr spit on the carrier through the vehicle window.
Pharr asked the friend for the handgun, but his friend kept the gun partially hidden inside his jacket with the extended magazine visible, according to the release. Pharr allegedly punched the window of the USPS vehicle as the carrier began to drive away from the scene, causing more than $300 in damage.
Chester officers and postal inspectors responded.