In the list of ideal vehicles to flee from the police, a USPS mail truck ranks very low. The Grumman LLV may be a legendary workhorse of the postal service, but it’s heavy, slow, and not exactly known for its handling prowess, either. And yet, that didn’t stop one bold individual from trying anyway.
As reported by Fox13, someone was sentenced to 30 months in prison for allegedly stealing a mail truck at knifepoint and leading police on a dangerous chase through Utah before being taken into custody.
As posted to TikTok, footage captured on the ground shows just how chaotic the chase became. We see the Grumman LLV fleeing from multiple police cruisers through an industrial area, before being boxed in at the end of the carpark. The LLV then rams police cruisers, and the sound of Tasers firing can be heard before the video cuts off.
@sunshine99989 #livinginutah #postaldelivery #policechase #saltlakecityutah #maildelivery
According to authorities, the alleged mail truck thief had threatened a postal employee with a knife in order to gain access to the Grumman LLV. Behind the wheel, it’s alleged he was then involved in hit-and-run and near-miss incidents. Using GPS to track the vehicle, police indicated they eventually tracked the truck down to a dead end in Centerville, and that Hernandez attempted to flee.
In footage shared by On Patrol: Live, it’s possible to see where the rogue mail truck was eventually brought to a final halt near 500 West Porter Lane, Centerville. Reports state the driver barricaded himself inside the mail truck while officers fired multiple “less-lethal” weapons at the vehicle. The driver eventually surrendered, and was subsequently taken into custody.
Thankfully, the postal worker whose truck was involved in this incident was unharmed. “Unfortunately, our employee experienced a challenging situation today. Thankfully the employee is safe,” stated USPS spokesperson Rod Spurgeon, at the time of the incident. “During this sensitive time, our primary focus is on offering support to our employee. We are also providing counseling and assistance to help them navigate through this experience.”
It’s little surprise the chase ended the way it did. A Grumman LLV might only weigh 1,225 kg unloaded, but it’s geared for work, not performance, and comes with a maximum of 120 hp on tap when new thanks to a rather weak Iron Duke 2.2-liter four-cylinder, which is attached to a three-speed slushbox. These vehicles are ponderous sheds-on-wheels, and have a fraction of the speed and agility of even the most cumbersome police cruisers. If anything, it’s perhaps surprising the chase went on as long as it did. Per the Fox13 report from immediately after the incident, police were first called shortly before 1 PM but the chase didn’t come to a close until almost an hour and a half later.
There’s no word on what became of the mail truck in question after the incident. The Autopian has contacted the USPS’s Utah desk to ask about the fate of the truck and for any other comment; here’s their response:
Fortunately, our employee was unharmed and returned to duty. Both the delivery vehicle and its contents were recovered.
Ultimately, police chases never start well and never end well. If you get in something slow, heavy, and full of mail, you can’t expect to make a dashing escape from anywhere. Besides, even the fastest mail trucks can’t outrun a radio. Unless you’ve got some kind of 2 Fast 2 Furious thing going where you’re going to escape into a flood of lookalike mail vans all pouring out of a warehouse, you’re probably not going to get away. Best leave the Grummans to their work and make your escape another way.
“Of course nobody NEEDS mail!”
But what was his motivation? I can’t see anyone stealing a mail truck for a joy ride. Maybe he thought the shape shifter Terminator was chasing him? He was like “This is the vehicles maximum velocity”.
The impressive thing here is that he didn’t crash out almost immediately.
The LLV is slow, VERY slow. But seriously, especially for someone not used to them, they are almost spooky to drive. You have no abs. You have no stability control. The front track is more narrow than the rear, by what feels like at least a foot. Most of them are on decade old shocks, and the rear tires are recaps. The steering setup is from a 1980’s Chevy S-10 pickup, from the 195mm width tires to the 3.5 turn lock-to-lock steering right up to the semi-truck sized steering wheel.
These things feel like giant 3 wheelers from behind the wheel to the uninitiated.
Don’t know if it’s desperation, stupidity, or raw balls, but I gotta hand it to the guy- he held on pretty good.
“Unfortunately, our employee experienced a challenging situation today. Thankfully the employee is safe,” stated USPS spokesperson Rod Spurgeon
Without having AC and in the heatwave we are experiencing, isn’t everyday a challenging situation for the drivers who are still using the LLV?
I drive one whenever my Jeep is down for repairs and let me just say:
It really ain’t that bad, as long as your fan works!
Well that’s good to hear! There was an article here (at least I am pretty sure it was here) a while back about the extreme measures that drivers were taking to stay cool as they were basically cooking inside.
I don’t want to sound like I’m diminishing anyone’s experience, now. We only get up into the mid 90s here, and that might happen a couple weeks out of the year. Places where it hits over 100 and it’s like all month, now I feel for those guys, but most of them should have metris vans by now.
It’s been mid 90’s this week in the south east so humidity always factors into how crappy it feels. But no Metris’s (Metri? Metris’?) in site in my area. Still chugging along with the LLV’s
It may be slow, but those heavy duty bumpers could be helpful in making your get away.
“Grumman In Hot.” 200 bonus points. Sorry, Wilber. You’re eliminated. Say goodbye by explaining your life choices.
bummer on the ‘less lethal’ part. now the dude is just going to take a short rest at taxpayer expense and then get back to his day job of ruining society with his poor life choices.
curious what sort of message goes into the tracking system when the delivery vehicle is hijacked?
“Delayed”
boring.
He got off very light with only 2and a half years. The federal charges alone are substantial 10 for postal worker assault, 5 years for stealing mail, time however many pieces there are if the judge is having a bad day. Lots of state charges too, but don’t mess with the postal system.
Glad the postal worker was unharmed. I’d like to get my hands on one of those vehicles someday and swap in a 6 L from an express van. Of note the 2.2 is not an iron Duke, the 2.5 is. The 2.2 came along in later versions of the S 10 pick up.
Long as you swap the front end parts to go along with it.
Trust me, anything over 60mph, these things are sketchier than a cj5 jeep.
Well these are based on 2wd S-10 blazer which has a lot of support with control arms etc and G-Body stuff. Would be a fun machine!
I forgotten about this, cute/fun side fact, the officer who was leading the chase was the DARE/school resource officer (as seen in the top image), so one of the elementary students made him a LEGO LLV as a memento. I have a crappy cell photo of it. Warmed the old cold heart.
Lewin really mailed it in with this one.
The big question is did the thief uphold the postal worker pledge and deliver all of the mail while attempting to evade the police or did he pull a Newman.
Spike’s Minor Complaint:
It always irritates me when a convicted felon is referred to as allegedly having committed the crime. The fact he has been convicted means that reasonable doubts have been eliminated and the crime is no longer alleged. The perpetrator is not a suspect, he’s a confirmed thief.
Exactly. He was convicted and sentenced. It is no longer alleged, it is confirmed.
He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
He DID steal the truck at knife-point.
He WAS involved in a hit and run.
They made a Simpson’s joke happen in real life.
They’ll lock him in a room with the ghost of Wilford Brimley as the Postmaster General. Brings a whole new meaning to going postal.
Wilford “diabeetus” Brimley! Got to know him from that VCR found footage fest clip
I sat next to Wilford while getting dinner at the lobby bar at the Universal Hilton in CA nearly 15 years ago. He was chewing tobacco and had a little spit cup. I don’t know if the bar would let anyone else do that. But other than that, he was a really nice guy.
Fella must have been nice to be with
He was personable to people around him and not full of himself. But he did a LOT of chew. Helped me to get used to it for my Texas FIL. Although the smell is much more tolerable in an air-conditioned bar than a Ford F-150, sitting out in the sun.
Suspect figured it was the appropriate vehicle to “send it”. Was unaware of standard escape rates, should’ve went with a Priority Mail
ChevyExpress getaway vehicle.This is what happens when the Mormon Husbands try to get in on the social media action, things go downhill fast.
“Here, Sunshine, hold my phone and film this. Yes, in portrait mode, are you stupid or something?”
Probably easier to just swap in a Spoon engine and Motec system exhaust.
As much NOS as possible while preserving the integrity of the welds on the intake and the passenger floorboard
“Suspect is a white mail”
“We’re going to need this pursuit concluded post-haste”
“Sarge, is this video time-stamped?”
Whoa, pretty bold to carjack a USPS van, given the history of their employees.
You might have better luck stealing an H2 with a vinyl wrap for Keith’s Glock Warehouse or something.
Really, suspect is lucky he didnt get shot in the face at the first glint of the knife blade
I guess justice got a (tips sunglasses) speedy delivery.
YEEEAAAAHHHH
Well, at least you tried and didn’t just mail truck it in
I’m going to be unnecessarily pedantic here and mention that the vehicle is a Chevrolet LLV; that’s who engineered it and that’s how they are VIN’ed. Grumman only built the body, everything that makes it function was built by Chevrolet.
I personally think this is of note because while the LLV might be crap, it’s undeniably durable crap, and for that I think Chevrolet doesn’t get enough credit.
TIL. They do indeed have a GM VIN. Didn’t realize that.
https://webassets.lqdt1.com/assets/photos/6197/6197_224_18.jpg?cb=240628062609&h=480&webp=true
This is why I come here. That’s awesome.
Full frame chassis for RVs/step vans all get VINs from the manufacturer of origin.
I did learn today that Ford sells stripped Econoline chassis. I was only aware of the F-53 RV and F-59 Commercial chassis. Now I want to buy this and do something stupid with it https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2025-FORD-E-Series+Stripped+Chassis-5032918646#sid=234445
Yeah I knew that, but in the case of the LLV I still thought Grumman was the official manufacturer.
So it was used and stripped or ??? All I know is that I have spent too many hours of my life behind the wheel of a U-Haul E350. Crap to drive, but I admire their durability.
Brand new. Probably special ordered it for someone and it fell through. Not much market for these I am guessing. If it was at least a cab and chassis it could have a box thrown on the back but not sure what you’d do with this besides a full aluminum body
One of the weirder automotive things I have seen for sale. The little tent over the steering wheel etc I was kind of amusing.
That’s generally how these things ship so they can be outside while waiting to enter the factory. Especially with RVs, its not uncommon for the chassis to be a year older than the body built on top of it.
I wonder if the chase sounded like MOOO *stop* MOOO *stop* MOOO *stop* like most LLV activities.
The Iron Duke was a 2.5L, not 2.2L. Earlier LLVs got the 2.5L Iron Duke, whereas later LLVs got the 2.2L LN2 engine from the S-10 which is not part of the Iron Duke family.
I’m no lawyer, but I’d want to guess that stealing a USPS vehicle turns it into a Federal crime.
Yeah, I’m surprised by the sentence. Cuz it’s like…if the guy was trying to use it as a getaway vehicle, and the intent was not to steal mail…if that was taken into account at all, that might explain “only” 2.5 years of prison. Cuz stealing mail, hoo boy. Not good for jail sentence time.
Assault of a federal employee (Letter Carriers are federal employees). Interfering with the mail is also a federal offense. I mean, the carjacking seems like the least of this person’s crimes (in terms of possible severity of punishment). I’d hope federal charges are on their way.
It most certainly does, the Postal Inspection Service and the local US attorney are likely to be involved already