COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Driver’s licenses, checks, credit cards and a large assortment of mail are scattered alongside the interstate in Cobb County.
A Channel 2 Action News photographer was on the scene, where piles of mail could be seen up and down a portion of Interstate 285 North.
According to a man on the scene, who was picking up the mail and putting it in bags, he watched as the mail spilled out of a U.S. Postal Service truck on Tuesday.
The man, Pastor Male Atkins, told Channel 2 Action News that he was “just driving, dropping stuff off, when I just see the truck, I thought it was paper, but it was mail.”
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Atkins said he drove around and there were “thousands of pieces of mail everywhere, driver’s licenses, social security checks, mortgage payments,” and grabbed bags from his truck to pick up the mail to take to the post office.
He said he called various local law enforcement and the postal service and was told by workers that there was “nothing we could do.”
When Channel 2 Action News found Atkins where he was picking up the mail still, he said he was just trying to do the right thing, but had “never seen anything like this before.”
While he was on his way to make drop-offs and donations for his nonprofit, helping women and children through shelters that work with the domestic violence hotline, he said he “had to stop because of my heart,” and couldn’t leave the mail unattended.
“I’ve still got deliveries, I’m still trying to raise donations for the nonprofit today,” he said.
The U.S. Postal Service shared a statement with Channel 2 Action News that confirmed that the mail that fell from the truck had been deemed “undeliverable” and were set to be disposed of.
The Postal Service takes seriously the security and sanctity of the mail, including when transporting items on roadways across Georgia and the nation. In this specific instance, a vehicle which was operated by a contractor (not USPS personnel) inadvertently dropped some of its load along the highway. The material contained in the load had been deemed undeliverable to its destination. The Postal Service follows specific procedures to verify and dispose of this type of material, using contracted services. No mail or packages destined for delivery were contained on the vehicle. Once alerted to the situation, local postal officials dispatched personnel to retrieve all dropped material.
— USPS spokesperson
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