MIAMI (WSVN) - A Miami woman called a United States Postal Service mail carrier a racial slur and tried to hit her with an SUV, police said.
The carrier was delivering mail around 4:25 p.m., Tuesday, along the 1000 block of Northwest 18th Place.
According to authorities, a postal worker, who is a Black woman, was delivering mail in Lourdes Maria Portugues’ neighborhood when Portugues’ child approached to collect the mail.
Portugues yelled at her child not to speak to the mail carrier, calling the woman a racial slur, police said.
That’s when, according to police, Portugues got into her Lincoln Nautilus SUV and drove toward the mail carrier, who moved out of the way.
Police allege Portugues tried to strike the carrier two more times. The victim and several witnesses ran toward the sidewalk to avoid being hit, according to police.
The incident was captured on surveillance video.
Authorities said Portugues later parked the SUV and yelled, “I’m going to shoot you. I have a gun inside my house.”
A witness told officers Portugues went into a room and began loading bullets into a gun, police said. Officers who entered the home found a pellet gun and rounds.
Portugues was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A judge found probable cause and ordered her held on a $15,000 bond with house arrest.
Her public defender, Krishtine Loaiza, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police said officers were called to the same address two years ago for an alleged domestic battery incident involving Portugues, where she was accused of placing a family member in a chokehold, according to an arrest affidavit.
A witness told police the family member was screaming, “Me va matar” (“She’s going to kill me.”).
The charge was later dropped, court records show.
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