A lieutenant with the state Department of Correction is under arrest, accused of assaulting a mailman, pulling a gun on him and shouting racial slurs at him in Waterbury.

Daniel Alvarado, 42, saw the mailman, 23-year-old Roshane Thompson, urinating in a wooded area near his property on Saturday, March 19 and confronted him, according to police.

During the altercation, Alvarado pulled a gun and put it against the Thompson's stomach, police said.

Alvarado handed the gun to his girlfriend, who walked away with it, before the correction officer began hitting Thompson in the face several times, slamming his head into the pavement and shouting racial remarks at him, according to police.

Thompson was found lying on the ground next to his mail truck with a large cut above his right eye. He was taken to the hospital to be treated for a broken eye socket.

Alvarado, who has been employed by the Department of Correction since 2000, was charged with second-degree assault with a firearm, reckless endangerment, carrying a firearm while intoxicated and second-degree bigotry.

He was placed on administrative leave from his job at the Bridgeport Correctional Center on Monday, March 21, according to a Department of Correction spokesperson.

The case was continued.