A Florida USPS postal worker was charged after authorities said he tried to mow down a 10-year-old boy whom he suspected was stealing a package from a home.
Florida Highway Patrol arrested and charged 41-year-old William White Jr. with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, petit theft and criminal mischief for a violent encounter in a residential neighborhood in Escambia County on Dec. 27.
Troopers learned White was dropping off mail and packages in the neighborhood when he delivered one package to the wrong address.
A 10-year-old boy who lived at the home noticed that the package didn’t belong to his family, so he placed it on his electric scooter to deliver it to the correct address.
Authorities say White saw the boy take the package, immediately suspected he was a porch pirate, and “purposely drove the USPS vehicle toward the child and ran over the scooter.”
Reports show the postal worker then yelled at the child, grabbed the scooter from underneath his truck, and put it on his truck. When the boy’s family member caught up to White to confront him, he then dropped the scooter in a nearby yard and drove away from the scene.
The boy was able to evade the collision and run into a nearby yard, but injured his ankle in the process. He had to be taken to a hospital in Pensacola for treatment.
“This isn’t just a simple ‘Oops!’ crash with a 10-year-old. This is an intentional act by a United States postal worker trying to run over a 10-year-old,” Florida Highway Patrol Captain Jason King told WEAR.
King added, “It’s a 10-year-old on a scooter, it’s not a normal porch pirate running up, snatching packages that you just dropped off. It’s amazing what a small conversation would do in a situation rather than jumping straight to force, use of force…or really escalating the situation way past where it should have been.”
Neighbors agreed with King’s sentiments and believe that White could have handled the situation differently.
“I think he did go too far. If anything, not to chase the kid, but try and find a parent or an adult to talk to,” neighbor Alexus Brown said.
Troopers gathered witness accounts and then interviewed and arrested White on New Year’s Eve, three days after the incident.
He was released from jail on a $5,500 bond. He’ll be back in court on Jan. 23.
It’s unclear if he’s still employed with USPS.
In a statement to WEAR, the United States Postal Service stated that it is cooperating with local law enforcement on the matter.
“The U.S. Postal Service takes the safety and well-being of our customers and employees seriously. The Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of the Postal Service, is actively investigating this issue in partnership with local law enforcement. We can confirm that the individual has been employed [since] 2025. The Postal Service does not publicly comment on personnel matters.”
