The USPS worker who was slain in a Harlem deli Thursday was enjoying a routine shift before he crossed a crazed woman who spit in his face before plunging a knife into his stomach, witnesses told The Post.
Ray Hodges had delivered a package just moments before he ducked into his usual lunch spot and became embroiled in an argument with alleged killer Jaia Cruz
The deli worker who was manning the grill said multiple customers tried to separate the pair after Cruz started a verbal argument.
“[Ray Hodges] was in the store counting his money to check how much he had to order. She came in after him and she had bags probably from the supermarket. She put her bags by the coffee machine and she came to order,” the employee, who declined to share his name, told The Post.
“He told her he’s trying to order his sandwich and she started arguing with him,” he continued.
“I told him it wasn’t worth it.”
Multiple people who were in the store successfully separated the pair — who the worker said were regulars — but Cruz kept trying to go after Hodges, whose loved ones said was a “great man” and doting father of two.
Even the employee put himself in the middle of the pair to end the fight — which escalated when Cruz hocked a loogie at her victim.
“I was in the middle and he was in front of me and she came from behind me and spit in his face,” the deli worker recalled.
“That got him mad so he threw the bottle of lemon juice at her.”
“That’s when she took the knife and came to him and I had to move.”
Cruz allegedly lodged the blade in Hodges’ neck and stomach, the worker explained, adding that he and other customers called 911.
Hodges was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, cops said.
Just minutes before the ruthless slaying, Hodges had been speaking with his customers, including 34-year-old Alejandro Alarcon.
“He’s my mailman. Just yesterday, I asked him —- I told him I’m waiting on Under Armor shorts and I asked him to check for me because I didn’t want to go upstairs to get the key. He opened it for me,” Alarcon told The Post Friday.
“Then I went upstairs to get the dog to walk him out and when I came outside maybe 15 minutes later, his cart was [in front the deli]. The yellow tape was here. All the blood was everywhere. They had just taken him.”
Alarcon recalled the mail carrier as a “really nice” man who went out of his way to help his customers.
“Literally over a sandwich? Literally over who ordered first? The person couldn’t let it go?” he continued.
The violent slaying has put Alarcon and his neighbors on edge, he said.
“I come to this deli all the time. I buy detergent here, I buy coffee here, I buy bagels here— now I’m scared to go into this deli or any deli,” said the Harlem resident.
“The mayor needs to get on top of this. I had family members that was supposed to come visit me for Christmas and I told them ‘Do not come and visit me because the city is not safe.’”
Cruz has since been charged with murder and is awaiting arraignment.
