Cops: Pitbull Halts Mail Delivery on Fairview Ave

[Editor's Note: Incident information is supplied by the .]

Some Fairview Avenue residents have not been getting their mail due to a neighbor’s pit bull disrupting the postal carrier’s route.

According to Fairfield Police, a pit bull owned by John Prom of 147 Fairview Avenue bit a mail carrier on April 25, tearing the man’s jacket and forcing the postal worker to use mail and his leather bag as a shield and utilized pepper spray to keep the dog at bay.

The 147 Fairview Ave residence is reportedly surrounded by an invisible fence, but that did not stop the pit bull from escaping the yard, police said.

Following the incident, the United States Postal Service reportedly advised Prom that mail would not be delivered on Fairview Avenue until the situation was corrected, police department spokesperson Lt. James Perez said. Delivery has been slowed or stopped since May 8 and Fairview Ave residents have been reporting to police that their mail has still not been delivered.

Prom was issued infractions totaling $167 in fines Friday for having a nuisance dog and allowing the dog to roam, Perez said. According to the report, Prom was not home when the carrier was bitten and a woman who works at the residence said she couldn’t control the dog. He has until May 25 to pay the fines or contest them in court, according to Perez.

An officer kept post outside of Prom’s residence on May 7 so the mail carrier could conduct his route down Fairview Ave. The officer reported hearing the dog bark as the carrier approached and saw the pit bull -- along with Prom’s other dog, a golden retriever -- push through the front door and into the yard.  

The officer spoke with the woman who works for Prom (who police believe is a sitter of some sort) said they do not obey her commands, according to the report. She had to scare them with a broom to get them inside, Perez said. The Animal Control officer escorted the mail carrier around Fairview Avenue to complete his route.

Animal Control reportedly advised Prom to erect a physical fence around his property to enclose the dogs, Perez said. As of 1 p.m. Monday a fence had not been constructed.