A U.S. Postal Service employee died after he became stuck inside a mail handling machine at a distribution center in Allen Park, Michigan, according to officials.
Nicholas John Acker, 36, was stuck in the machine at the USPS Detroit Network Distribution Center for several hours before he was found dead on Saturday, officials told WDIV. The man was a maintenance worker.
Firefighters responded to the facility to investigate after the man’s fiancé reported that he had returned home after his shift, according to the outlet. The woman said she went to the facility and stood outside for hours before she alerted authorities.
The man had been dead for six to eight hours before the firefighters arrived at the facility, according to officials.
“We want to know what happened and how long he was there,” the man’s fiancée, Stephanie Jaszcz, told WDIV. “That’s what we want to know. We want to know how he even ended up there and why doesn’t anybody know where he was at?”
Mail handling machines are used to sort and weigh mail and can range in sizes. The facility where the man was found dead has many large machines, according to WDIV.
Police described the man’s death as “accidental.” The circumstances surrounding how he became stuck in the machine remain unclear, and authorities continue to investigate.
“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,” USPS said in a statement to WDIV.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. The NDC is fully operational at this time,” the statement continued.
Jaszcz criticized the USPS statement for failing to mention her fiancée’s name and for stating that mail operations will continue.
“‘The mail’s still moving?’ Gross,” Jaszcz said. “‘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. A man gone. A veteran. A husband. A human being. And all you can think of is mail keeps moving? Inhumane. It’s gross.”
