A United States Postal Service employee, who also previously served in the Air Force, died after he became stuck in a mail-handling machine at a USPS depot just outside of Detroit.
Nicholas Ackerman, a 36-year-old New Jersey native, was found trapped in the conveyor belt system at the USPS facility in Allen Park on Saturday, just 10 days after he proposed to his partner, Stephanie Jaszcz, ClickOnDetroit reported. Authorities believe he died there between 6-8 hours before the Allen Park Fire Department arrived at the depot, around 12:55 p.m.
“The United States Postal Service is deeply saddened by the loss of our employee at the Detroit Network Distribution Center (NDC) in Allen Park, MI,” a spokesperson for USPS told PEOPLE on Tuesday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. The NDC is fully operational at this time.”
Jaszcz said she waited for hours for help at the facility when her fiancé failed to return home following the end of his shift. She also criticized USPS as “gross” and “inhumane” for prioritizing the continued operation of mail services rather than acknowledging Ackerman’s service. He’d worked as a mechanic at the mail depot for over a year after serving in the Air Force for nearly a decade.
“‘The mail’s still moving?’ Gross. ‘Sorry about the loss, but the mail’s still moving.’ They couldn’t even say his name or acknowledge that he was an Air Force veteran,” Jaszcz said.
“A man gone. A veteran. A husband. A human being,” she added. “And all you can think of is mail keeps moving? Inhumane. It’s gross.”
The exact circumstances surrounding Ackerman’s death remain unclear, but authorities have described it as accidental.
