Man charged for robbing mail carrier at gunpoint with 3-year-old daughter in getaway car

FOX 2 - A mail carrier was robbed at gunpoint at 10 a.m. on New Year's Eve in a Detroit neighborhood.  The suspect allegedly committed the crime with his 3-year-old daughter in the front seat of his SUV.

A quote from federal court documents said "Daddy just robbed the mailman," detailing what allegedly happened on the city's east side on Friday.

That quote is from the little girl who police say, saw the whole thing from the front seat of Cordell James’ SUV - a Chevrolet Trailblazer that police followed from Detroit to New Baltimore.

"(I saw) 20 cop cars and I knew it had to be something drastic for all these cop cars to be chasing this one car," said witness Chevy Johnson.

Johnson says from what he saw, the driver was on a mission going about 80 miles an hour on Hall Road.

"It’s just something you don’t do as a grown man, you don’t put a kid's life in jeopardy," he said.

Before the chase to New Baltimore, it all started on Bewick Street near I-94 in Detroit.

At about 10:15 in the morning on New Year's Eve, a mail carrier called 911 saying he had just been robbed at gunpoint.

The suspect got roughly 15 pieces of mail, a package, and $50 worth of quarters.  The victim says he was told to get out of his mail truck and run across a field.

According to court documents, the suspect also admitted that he told the mail carrier not to look back, or he "would shoot him in the heart."

Thankfully no one was hurt. he faces three federal charges assault, theft and mail robbery.

He is staying in federal prison for at least one more day when his bond hearing continues.

A spokesperson for Detroit police said that once the federal case concludes, he may be facing more charges at the local level for fleeing police and possible child endangerment.