TAMPA, Fla. — The United States Postal Service held a memorial procession Friday for a mail carrier who was killed recently in a hit-and-run in a Tampa-area neighborhood.
Tampa police responded just before 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18, to the intersection of River Cove Street and North Mulberry Street. They arrived to find an overturned USPS mail delivery truck. Paul Falica, 69, who served the Sulphur Springs community for three decades as a mail carrier, was pronounced dead at the scene.
To remember the hard-working mail carrier, the memorial procession at 10 a.m. started at the Sulphur Springs Post Office and then went down Nebraska and Water avenues.
Eventually, it made its way to River Cove and Mulberry streets where the crash happened.
"We are deeply saddened by the death of Paul Falica, Letter Carrier at Sulphur Springs Post Office. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family and friends, including the many people he worked with at the Postal Service and whose lives he touched within the Tampa community," Tampa Postmaster Jackie Villemaire said in a statement. "The quick efforts and information from customers, Tampa Police Department, United States Postal Inspection Service, and first responders led to a swift capture of the suspect involved in this hit-and-run tragedy.
"This helped provide some closure to our team and is truly appreciated."
Last Friday, a judge denied bond for the driver, Christopher Prater, who investigators say admitted to hitting Falica.