An innocent animal and her owners suffered a heartbreaking loss for no reason.

KENTON HILLS, Ky. - It couldn't be an easy house call for Postal Service supervisor Terry Estrada to make.

"Let me express my greatest apologies," she told 77-year-old Nelson Hamm in front of his house on Devou Woods Drive in Kenton Hills. "I'm so sorry that this happened."

Thursday afternoon, Hamm said he watched as a mail carrier deliberately ran over his 3-year-old golden retriever, Nala.

"He had the car parked out there," he said. "She was out sniffing his tires."

Hamm said the carrier gunned the engine and ran over Nala's neck.

It became instantly clear to Hamm that it was no accident.

He said the mail truck was struggling to drive over the dog.

"Three times over her neck before he got over her," Hamm said. "The second time...smoke started coming from her."

He said the carrier delivered another package and then sped out of the cul-de-sac, despite his cries for him to stop.

"I'll bet he was doing 90 miles an hour," he said.

Hamm said he was numb.

Then, suddenly, a flicker of hope, quickly extinguished.

"The dog got up," he said. "I thought she was all right. I brought her in right here to the door. She fell in the door. I reached down and kissed her nose, and she licked my face and she just looked at me and went. She was dead."

Jack Stewart, 9, said the golden retriever came up the street every day to romp around.

"It makes me feel really bad," he said.

The Postal Service is investigating the incident.

What they are able to do if the allegations are true may be a bit muddy.
    
"We are a unionized environment," said one postal service employee who apologized to Hamm and his daughter. "There's procedures we have to follow but...we will follow through."

But for Hamm, no amount of follow through will replace his beloved pet.

"She was a beautiful dog," he said.

Read more: http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/owner-says-he-watched-mail-carrier-deliberately-run-over-his-dog?hpt=us_bn9#ixzz1xaWPPvdb