Woman tried to hit Black mail carrier with car, threatened to shoot her in Miami, police say

A woman accused of attacking a U.S. postal worker in Miami after she tried to strike her with her vehicle and threatened to shoot her was arrested on Tuesday, authorities said.

Lourdes Portugues, 34, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with prejudice.

According to authorities, the postal worker, who is a Black woman, was delivering mail in Portugues’ neighbor when her child went to collect the mail.

An arrest report said Portugues, who is a white Latina woman, told her child, ‘“We don’t talk to [n-words].”

The postal worker responded by saying she was just delivering mail, and Portugues grabbed a hose in her front yard and sprayed the woman with water, the report said.

The victim, the report said, then called authorities, and Portugues went back to her house, grabbed her purse and went inside her SUV. Fearing for her life, the victim crossed the street, and Portugues intentionally sped her SUV towards her, causing her to put out her arms on the SUV and move back so she wouldn’t get hit.

Portugues then reversed her SUV and tried to hit the victim again, but she ran and took cover behind a parked vehicle, the report said.

As she kept driving down the road, Portugues made a U-turn and continued to accelerate towards the victim, the report said. Portugues then parked her car, went inside her home and said she had a gun and was going to shoot the victim, the report said.

Portugues’ child, the report said, told officers that they saw her putting bullets in a gun while she was in her room.

Officers then entered the home, found a pellet gun and rounds, the report said.

Surveillance video in the area, the report said, corroborated the postal worker’s statements.

Portugues was then taken into custody.

During her court appearance on Wednesday, a judge set Portugues’ bond to $15,000 and ordered that she be placed on house arrest.

The United States Postal Service released the following statement:

“The USPS does not comment on ongoing investigations.”