Tampa mail carrier dead after USPS truck overturns in hit-and-run; suspect at large

TAMPA, Fla. - A mail carrier was struck and killed in a hit-and-run in Tampa after a car crashed into a USPS truck on Monday afternoon, according to police.

According to the Tampa Police Department, a postal carrier in his late sixties was struck by a car and pronounced dead at the scene in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood of Tampa.

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Police said they responded to the intersection of North River Cove Street and North Mulberry Street just before 3 p.m. 

Preliminary investigation revealed that a dark-colored Mercedes sedan struck the postal carrier's USPS truck and then fled the scene. Police located the suspect vehicle about a mile away with damage consistent with the crash.

According to neighbors, the mailman had been on this route for over two decades, and he planned to retire in February. 

"It's a tragedy, it really is," said neighbor Christa Fowler. "It shouldn't have happened."

She said the mailman had been on his route for as long as she's lived in Sulphur Springs. 

"I was just watching for the mail to arrive actually because usually I'd come outside and wave to him," Fowler said. "Almost instantaneously, I heard the first police siren going off and then they all kind of arrived. I didn't know it was his truck until I came outside, and I saw it overturned."

Aerial footage captured by SkyFOX shows the overturned USPS mail truck.

Detectives are working to identify and apprehend the suspect driver. The suspect Mercedes was found on North 16th Street covered by a tarp. 

Police added that next of kin has not yet been notified.

TPD asks anyone with information or video that could aid with the investigation to contact them at 813-231-6130.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.