Farmington Hills man who lunged at postal worker with knife charged with ethnic intimidation

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Farmington Hills man allegedly threatened a mail carrier while she was on her route and shouted derogatory language at her last week, prompting the carrier to use her pepper spray to fend him off.

Prosecutors have now charged Russell Valleau, 61, of Farmington Hills with ethnic intimidation and assault and battery following the attack on Thursday. It took place outside a mobile home park near Grand River and Middlebelt.

The Oakland County prosecutor says Valleau was intoxicated when he rode up on his bike and started shouting at the carrier, "saying very racially disparaging things about her and then racially disparaging things about our current Vice President and presidential candidate."

The incident is a microcosm of violence seeping into political identity and angst, McDonald said.

"Individuals are lashing out at complete strangers on the assumption that they have actually caused harm to them simply because of the color of their skin or their religion or their political persuasion," said McDonald.

Valleau was allegedly upset because the carrier was delivering political campaign mailers from presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Authorities say he pulled out a knife and lunged at her.

Russell Valleau, 61, of Farmington Hills

Concerned for her life, she deployed her pepper spray and used it on Valleau, prompting him to take off. Investigators took him into custody soon after.

With a little over a month until the presidential election, authorities hope the incident acts as a wake-up call.

"We have to draw the line - we have to say to people we must respect one another regardless of whether you agree with somebody and not threaten, bully, or scare somebody just because you don’t like the way they act, like the way they look or the beliefs that they have," said McDonald.