Itzel Ramirez, a 21-year-old Amazon delivery woman, viciously beat an elderly woman following a dispute over a delayed package.
Ramirez was arrested after she was filmed assaulting a 67-year-old woman in Alameda County, the sheriff's office said on June 4.
Video posted to social media shows the unidentified victim from Castro Valley appearing to say something to the driver after she dropped off the packages in front of an entrance to Vista Creek Apartments at around 6 p.m. on June 3.
Victim "too shaken up" to describe experience to the press
Doug Smith, owner of the apartment complex, told KRON-TV that the victim is "too shaken up" to reveal her identity and describe her experience to the press.
According to Smith, the victim received an alert that a package she had been waiting for was delivered. When she went to the lobby of the apartment complex to retrieve the package, it wasn’t there. The Amazon driver, Ramirez, was standing nearby.
The woman asked Ramirez where the package was and the delivery woman apparently replied that it would be arriving soon.
Smith said that the victim waited for about 15 minutes in the lobby before coming back outside and asking Ramirez about the status of the delivery. "I believe the Amazon driver said something about 'your white privilege,' and my tenant said, 'You don't need to be a b***h about it,' turned around and walked away," Smith told KTVU-TV. (Related: Corporate giants Amazon, Apple, Google and Walmart all donating millions to domestic terrorism organization Black Lives Matter.)
Surveillance footage filmed by cameras positioned both outside and inside the lobby of the building shows Ramirez attacking the unsuspecting victim from behind.
Ramirez landed as many as 10 punches and pushed the woman up against the front entrance. The woman is seen hunched over with her hands covering her head in an attempt to defend herself.
The victim is believed to have suffered a broken nose and other visible injuries.
Despite the evidence, Ramirez claimed she was acting in self-defense. She was seen wearing her Amazon vest as she posed for her booking photo with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.
Ramirez had been charged with two counts of elder abuse and battery involving serious bodily injury.
Amazon released a statement saying that Ramirez would no longer be employed by the company. "This does not reflect the high standards we have for drivers who deliver our packages," the company said. "We take these matters seriously and this individual is no longer delivering Amazon packages."
Amazon drivers having "bad days" lately
Late last month, an Amazon driver was caught having a major meltdown in a viral video that shows him screaming and cursing in his truck while delivering packages.
TikTok user Kristina Danielle Zagwyn shared the alarming footage during the Memorial Day weekend, prompting a mix of concern and amusement from viewers.
"Tell me you had [a] bad day without telling me you had a bad day," Zagwyn captioned the clip, which shows the man repeatedly yelling "S**t!" while parked in front of her house.
The unnamed man was still screaming in agony as he reversed the truck and pulled away in the opposite direction.
Zagwyn, who appeared to have filmed the video from her front porch, explained in the comments that she was worried about him.
"We tried to help him for half an hour but he wasn't having it," she wrote. "He just acted like this then proceeded to go through a stop sign and almost hit a minivan. They had to slam on their brakes."
The clip has been viewed more than 577,000 times in two days and has amassed thousands of comments. Many people shared their sympathy for the driver.
"When being overworked and underpaid finally reaches a boiling point," one person commented on the video. Others admitted they could relate, including fellow delivery drivers.
Amazon's treatment of workers called into question during pandemic
Amazon's treatment of its workers has been called into question during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
James Meyers worked as a driver for several Amazon delivery service providers for about one year until he quit in October last year, citing the immense workloads and poor working conditions.
Fourteen-hour shifts were common because delivery service providers wouldn't allow drivers to return any packages from their routes and the pressure to meet delivery rates meant Meyers used a plastic bottle instead of going to the restroom to urinate. (Related: Amazon forces low-wage employees to pee in bottles, now lying to try to cover it all up.)
"I saw no effort on Amazon's part to push delivery service providers to allow their drivers to use the restroom on a normal human basis, leading many, myself included, to urinate inside bottles for fear of slowing down our delivery rates," Meyers said.
"Any time a van is off route or stops for longer than three minutes, it notifies the delivery service provider. Amazon encourages the delivery service owners to cut down on said stops. I would personally get called by a dispatcher every time I stopped to go to the bathroom. Sitting on the phone with them made the stop take longer. It just wasn't worth the angry looks in the morning or the worry I'd get fired."
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