Neighbors who flagged down police after they saw a mail carrier being beaten may have saved his life.

Meanwhile, an Oak Park teen faces charges that he beat the 21-year-old postal worker and stole his designer eyeglasses.

Carl J. Smelley, 19, (pictured, left) has been charged with one count of unarmed robbery after he allegedly punched the mail carrier and then grabbed a $1,400 pair of Cartier eyeglasses the carrier was wearing, police said.

The suspect could face federal charges related to assaulting a postal worker, Local 4 reported.

Neighbors in the Nine Mile-Coolidge area reportedly alerted an officer and told him that someone was punching a mailman near the corner of Cloverlawn and Pearson streets, according to a report in the Daily Tribune.

The carrier told police that he was attacked by a man who is believed to be Smelley as the carrier approached a porch to deliver mail.

The unidentified postal worker, who had multiple cuts and bruises, refused medical treatment.

Police have not yet found the expensive eyeglasses.