Fewer than 90 days before 36-year-old Nicholas John Acker was found dead in a mail-sorting machine at the USPS Detroit Network Distribution Center in Allen Park, a formal grievance had been filed warning that the very same machine was unsafe, Local 4 has learned.
Acker, an Air Force veteran and maintenance mechanic from Trenton, was discovered dead and trapped inside one of the facility’s mail-processing machines on Nov. 8. His body had reportedly been there for 6-8 hours before first responders arrived.
‘Just sick:’ Coworker, friend says safety issues long ignored
Postal maintenance mechanic Matthew Stiffler, a friend and coworker of Acker’s and American Postal Workers Union maintenance craft steward, said he helped remove Acker’s body from the machine.
“I just lost it,” Stiffler said when he found out. “I actually threw up immediately and finished getting ready and went right to work.”
He said he later became physically ill again when he learned how long Acker’s body had gone unnoticed — and when he recalled the repeated warnings that had gone unaddressed.
