Feds: Doctor Attacked Mailman For Spraying Dog

JULY 10--A female physician was named today in a felony complaint accusing her of assaulting a letter carrier who pepper-sprayed her pit bull when the dog attacked him as he delivered mail last month on a leafy Maryland street.

Tanyech Walford, 43, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Pictured at right, Walford is a resident of Silver Spring, the Washington, D.C. suburb.

According to an affidavit sworn by Postal Inspector Michel Belz, a letter carrier identified only by the initials “D.R.” was delivering mail to Walford’s home on Whitmoor Terrace when he was “approached aggressively by a loose pit-bull mix canine.”

After failing to ward the dog off via verbal commands (and the use of his satchel), the mailman “deployed his Postal Service-issued pepper spray,” Belz reported. Despite being sprayed in the face, the dog continued to advance, prompting “D.R.” to spray the animal a second time. “This time the dog retreated and D.R said he continued to deliver the mail on Whitmoor Terrace,” added Belz.

While later parked in front of 113 Whitmoor Terrace, “D.R.” was confronted by Walford, who drove up in her Nissan SUV. She walked up to the mailman and “repeatedly made references to him attacking her dog.”

After asking “D.R.” if he had pepper-sprayed her pit-bull, Walford “attacked him and began to punch him several times about his head, neck and face.” The assault, which lasted between 15 and 20 seconds and was broken up by a neighbor, left “D.R.” with “scratches on his neck and face and a bruised lip.”

Federal records do not indicate when Walford is scheduled to appear at the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the felony complaint was filed. According to an online Washingtonian Magazine photo gallery, Walford attended a December 2011 Christmas party at the D.C. townhouse of Juleanna Glover, the powerful Republican consultant/lobbyist who once served as Vice President Dick Cheney’s press secretary. (2 page)