Mailman Bitten by Barking Man

The Associated Press
August 11, 2005, Dateline Alabama

A mail carrier wasn't worried when he heard barking. The man had already made sure the pooch in the yard he was about to deliver to was chained up.

It wasn't the barking dog that got him, it was a barking man, police said.

Mark D. Plumb, 20, of Butler, Mo., was arrested and charged with simple battery Wednesday after he ran barking from a house and bit the letter carrier on the shoulder, Houma Police spokesman Lt. Todd Duplantis said.

Plumb said he bit the carrier as a joke and has no history of criminal activity or mental illness, police said.

"I've never heard of something like this," Terrebonne Parish Postmaster Bill Frye said. "I was shocked when I heard about it."

The carrier was shaken up from the attack but had minimal physical injuries, Frye said. The carrier has been delivering in Houma for about two weeks, Frye said.

Mail carriers participate in frequent safety classes, Frye said, and are equipped with dog spray to protect themselves from animals.

"We don't expect that a human being is going to run up and bite one of our carriers," said Frye.

Plumb is free from the Terrebonne Parish jail after posting $165 bond.