BasketBrawl
An aggravated assault during a pickup basketball game turned a good time into a police investigation on Jan. 8.
A UAPD officers arrived at the Campus Recreation Center, where the assault took place, and spoke with the student who had been hit.
The student told the officer he and his friends were playing a friendly game of basketball in the south gym of the Rec Center around 6 p.m. He was playing defense against a man he had never met before.
It was then that the man punched him in the face with a closed fist. He struck his mouth, which began bleeding.
After the blow, all the players ran to the pair and separated them. The man fled the scene.
The student described the suspect as having a chipped tooth and swollen lip. He also reportedly had a cut on his right knuckle, which the student believed came from when the man fell during the game, not from the punch.
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The officer spoke to several of the student’s friends who had been at the game and witnessed the assault.
One of the friends demonstrated the style of punch to the officer.
A second friend said that during the five-on-five basketball game, he saw another friend get hit and initially thought he had been struck in the neck.
The third witness said he saw the punch after a foul in the game.
The three witnesses believed that they would be able to identify the suspect if they saw him again but did not know in which direction he had gone.
The officer reviewed security camera footage from the Rec Center but did not see the student, his friends or anyone matching the suspect’s description leaving the gym.
The student said he would want to press charges if the suspect was found.
Totally Floored
The Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall found itself with its own version of Moaning Myrtle when an intoxicated student passed out in one of the hall’s communal bathrooms on Jan. 10.
When a University of Arizona Police Department officer arrived at the hall at approximately 2 a.m., members of the Tucson Fire Department and UA’s Emergency Medical Service were already there assessing the student’s health.
A woman on the scene spoke with the officer, recounting the events of that night. She told him that she had met the student earlier that night at a party at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house.
She said that while they were together, the student had not been drinking, so she did not know how much alcohol she had consumed, but by the time they left, she appeared already drunk and was having trouble standing.
Due to the student’s condition, the woman and the Pi Kappa Alpha risk management officer decided to take her home.
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The student told them that she lived in Likins Residence Hall, but when the trio arrived, she could not find her CatCard. The woman offered to let the student stay in her room in Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall.
When they arrived at the woman’s dorm, the student excused herself, stating that she needed to use the restroom.
The woman went to check on the student after she had been gone for several minutes and had not returned.
When she entered the restroom, the woman discovered the student passed out on the floor of the bathroom.
The officer then spoke with the fraternity’s risk management officer. He confirmed that the student had been at the party earlier that night but hadn’t been drinking alcohol there.
He agreed to help the woman take the student back after seeing the state she was in.
He said that when they arrived at Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall, the student had been walking on her own. When he and the woman checked on her in the bathroom later, they had found her on the floor.
The paramedics who assessed the student identified that the student displayed signs of intoxication. The medical team transported her to Banner University Medical Center, though they noted that she was in no immediate danger. She was later referred to the Dean of Students Office for entry into the UA Diversion Program.
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