This marks the fourth death at the distribution facility since it opened in 2024.
“The emergency phones were not hooked up,” Smith exclusively told Raw Story.
“I'm not blaming [USPS] for the death, but I'm blaming them for their response because the quicker we can get an individual help, the better their chances are of survival, and what they have in place right now for a facility that's over a million square feet, in my opinion, is unacceptable.”
Jonathan Smith (Photo provided by American Postal Workers Union)
USPS has not confirmed the cause of death, but 911 calls indicate that Little suffered a medical emergency, with CPR engaged 18 minutes after the call.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a postal family member on June 3. Our thoughts are with their family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time,” said Albert Ruiz, a USPS spokesperson in an emailed statement.
“Due to privacy concerns, the Postal Service does not publicly comment on matters involving its personnel. We are providing counseling services to our employees at the Palmetto Regional Distribution Center.”
Current procedure requires security personnel to respond before emergency services are contacted, which can take a long time to travel across the building that has no cell phone service, Smith said.
“The total response time is a major concern for me because of the procedures that they have in place,” Smith said.
“That's why I asked for them to put emergency phones all over the building, so if something happens, you can get a more immediate response to get people help when they need it. That has not been put into place, so I am really p----- off at the Postal Service because this is not a major ask.”
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) sent a letter expressing “grave concern” to Postmaster General David Steiner on Friday to launch an inquiry into the deaths at the Palmetto facility.
A report from the USPS Office of Inspector General last year cited “insufficient supervision and a poor employee work culture” at the Palmetto facility.
Smith said he asked the Postal Service to install emergency phones in November 2025 and was told they would be installed in January. Nearly six months later, they weren’t, and Smith said he was told the IT team received approval to install the phones after Little’s death.
”They promised that they were going to put emergency phones out there because that facility — and this is supposed to be their starship facility. This was supposed to be their shining beacon for America, how great a post office could be — yet they have no cell phone service, so what's important is that we put emergency phones out there,” Smith said.
'Unconscionable and unacceptable'
The Palmetto regional distribution facility is part of Delivering for America, a 10-year plan for financial sustainability from former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy as USPS has registered billions of dollars of losses annually in recent years and has now run out of money.
“This facility was supposed to be the shining star of the Delivering for America plan. This was supposed to be the facility of all facilities to show you the greatness of the Postal Service, and if this is showing what the greatness of the Postal Service is, then we have a long way to go,” Smith said.
“People have a right to come to work, and go home the same way they came. Alive. The people have a right to have a fighting chance at survival if an incident happens in an industrial environment where we know these things can happen. The Postal Service has an obligation — not just a responsibility, an obligation — to give the workers that work for them every protection that they can to give them every chance they can to survive any incident that may happen.”
Previous deaths at the facility involved Russell Scruggs, Jr., a mail handler assistant who died in November, Eric Smith, a 59-year-old electric technician who died in June 2025 and Sharon Barnes, 48, who died in August 2024.
A postal worker transports boxes at a USPS Processing & Distribution Center in Los Angeles on December 2. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo)
Smith said during one of the previous deaths “they put cardboard around the individual and had his coworkers walk around them.”
“Do you know what kind of traumatic incident that is?” Smith said.
“Then you’ve got to go back to work and work that same facility where you feel unprotected.”
In another instance, a woman working an afternoon shift did not find out her house burned down until after she was done with work because she couldn’t be reached in the facility, Smith said.
“That is unconscionable and unacceptable in any form, whether it be a post office or any place else,” Smith said.
While Little was not a member of the American Postal Workers Union, rather represented by the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, Smith said it was important to speak out because “the safety issue for me is to protect all postal workers.”
The National Postal Mail Handlers Union did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
For months, Smith said he’s been advocating for other safety measures such as CPR training and defibrillators on the workroom floor but said there was pushback about the cost.
“I'm very disgusted at what's going out there at the post office response,” Smith said.
“Nobody says that they are to blame for these tragedies, but they can be held responsible for their response because what happens is when someone gets hurt, our response needs to be we need to put things in place, so this never happens to somebody again. Four deaths later, I'm still waiting for the position of the post office to protect everybody else from this happening to them.”
