Post-froyo freak-out

A UA student was arrested after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver on Second Street and Cherry Avenue at 12:32 a.m. on April 7.

The taxi driver said the student was visibly intoxicated when he picked him up from Dairy Queen on Fourth Avenue.

After looking for cab fare, the student, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, hit the driver twice in the head and fled without paying.

Nothing happened to provoke the attack, said the driver, who suffered two abrasions above his right eye.

A University of Arizona Police Department officer approached the driver after seeing his taxi parked in the middle of an intersection. The driver told the officer about the attack, so the officer turned on the patrol vehicle’s emergency lights and yelled for the student, who was still in sight, to stop.

The student then began to run, and the officer chased him on foot. Suddenly, the student stopped and faced the officer in a “combative posture,” so the officer grabbed his wrist and brought him to the ground. The student hurt his arm on a nearby cactus in the struggle.

The student then became uncooperative, yelling and thrashing around while he was escorted to the officer’s patrol vehicle.

He was taken to Pima County Jail for charges related to theft, assault, minor in possession and a fake ID.

The taxi driver told police he wanted to pursue criminal charges.

Car vandals on the loose

A non-UA affiliated woman reported vandalism to her 2010 Ford Explorer and three other cars in the Main Gate Parking Garage at 8:56 a.m. on April 7.

The woman had parked her vehicle on the second floor of the garage the night before. When she returned, she noticed that the driver’s side mirror was shattered and there were gouge marks on both front windows as well as footprints on both the driver’s and passenger’s side doors.

UAPD officers found a rock beneath the car that had particles of glass in it and was suspected to be the object used to break the mirror.

Besides the woman’s Ford Explorer, three nearby vehicles had suffered similar damage. Police left a business card on the vehicles with UAPD contact information, and photos of the damage were submitted to evidence.

There are currently no witnesses or suspects.