Last Monday, Lucretia McKinney was delivering mail on her route of mansions along Pine Tree Drive when she turned the corner to a horrifying sight: Mariana Cruz -- former soft-core porn actress and wife of longtime Miami Beach Commissioner Simon Cruz -- standing in front of her house with her German shepherd, Sugarcane.
The dog was unrestrained, McKinney says, despite a certified letter from the U.S. Postal Service warning the Cruzes after McKinney narrowly escaped getting mauled two years ago, shortly after the 24-year veteran of the postal service began her route on Pine Tree. "That dog was always vicious," she says.
So on Monday, when she saw Mariana and the unleashed dog in front of the couple's $1.1 million manse, McKinney panicked. "I threw all my mail in the air and grabbed for my Mace," she says. "But it was too late."
The best she could do was shield her neck and face as the dog punctured and tore her forearm a half-dozen times before Mariana pulled the shepherd away. Then the situation got uglier.
"I was afraid I was bleeding to death, but she refused to call 911," McKinney says. "She wanted to take me to the hospital herself. First of all, I have procedures. Second, why would I trust this lady?"
So the mail carrier ran across the street, pushing intercoms and asking for help. When a neighbor's housekeeper called the cops, McKinney says, Mariana argued with the maid in Spanish. Then, suddenly, Mariana "hauled off and hit her," McKinney says.
Police eventually arrived, and McKinney was taken to the hospital, where she received dozens of stitches.
"I lived through a nightmare," she says. "This woman deserves to be punished."
Oddly, the police report describes Mariana, who appeared in the erotic thriller Private Lessons and the sex comedy Busted, only as a witness. The narrative doesn't note the alleged assault, though McKinney says she told officers about it. And no charges are pending connected to the incident, says Det. Juan Sanchez, a spokesman for the Miami Beach PD.
Mariana Cruz didn't return multiple calls. Simon Cruz, now the president of the Bank of Coral Gables, declined to comment because "I wasn't there."
McKinney is planning a lawsuit. She'll miss weeks of work, and she worries how she'll ever deal with dogs on her route after the attack. "I'm scarred forever," she says.
Here's the police report:
cruzreport
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
