SOUTHGATE — A 42-year-old city resident is being held on $1 million,10 percent bond in connection with an assault of a postal carrier on Monday.
Bruce William Edwards of Southgate was arraigned in 28th District Court Wednesday for allegedly trying to sexually assault and abduct the carrier, a 50-year-old woman.
Police were called to the area of Mercier and Barberry about 2:30 p.m. on word of an assault and found the carrier extremely upset and crying. Several people were standing around her postal truck.
The woman said she was at the rear of her truck when a heavyset man in his 40s came from around the vehicle and stared at her before pushing her into the back of the truck while telling her to get inside.
The woman resisted and said she didn’t have anything, but the man allegedly then began to force all of his 300-pound frame on her to push her inside the truck. He eventually threw her in, police said, and she then began screaming for help, saying she believed the man was trying to close the door on the back and drive off.
The victim said the man ripped her shirt during the assault before fleeing on Mercier and was seen running between houses. A witness said she saw the man pushing the carrier into the truck and heard her screaming. Another witness heard the screams from his truck, which he was driving five houses east of Barberry, and got out to help.
An officer eventually was flagged down by people who had chased the man; they directed the officer to a back yard on Veronica, where he found Edwards. He gave varying accounts of what happened, telling police at first that he mistook the carrier for a friend and was trying to give her a hug, but then said he realized his mistake. Edwards also told them he had been at a church meeting in Taylor and had stopped on the way home to buy a half pint of vodka.
Police said he also told them he was drinking and couldn’t remember exactly what happened. Edwards was carrying a nylon stocking with him at the time of his arrest that he told police was for his guitar strings, but later admitted to having a sexual fetish for women wearing nylon, they said.
When told of the carrier’s damaged blouse, Edwards told police he didn’t mean to hurt anyone.