He knocked again and again and listened for some response from inside, but the television in the apartment across the hall was blaring too loud for him to hear anything else, so he called Ms. Stephens' nephew, David Spenser, who also happens to be a Prichard carrier. David tried to call his aunt, but she didn't answer her phone, either.
For a brief moment, the sound on the neighbor's tv dropped. Donnie thought that he heard a faint, "Help, help," coming from inside Ms. Stephens' apartment. He called 911.
Ms. Stephens' had fallen in the bathtub and broken her hip, which resulted in her having to undergo hip replacement surgery. When asked if there was anything that he said to Ms. Stephens as she was being prepared for transport to the hospital, Donnie replied, "I just told her, 'I'll leave your mail by the tv.' "
What is even more amazing is that this is by no means Donnie Miller's first rescue of a customer in his 10 years as a carrier for the Postal Service (prior to which he had served 27 years in the US Marine Corps). He also found a customer who on New Year's Eve had fallen in his own driveway (another person with a broken hip); discovered a customer, an elderly amputee who lived alone, in heart failure; and witnessed a car-jacking, where the information that he provided to the police led to the recovery of the stolen vehicle, along with the capture and arrest of the criminals.
Postmarks admires Donnie Miller's caring and bravery and knows that the citizens of Prichard, Alabama feel safer having this secret super-hero on the alert.
