Police Beat 3/27/2019: A jarring discovery

A Blunt Refusal

Turns out people can be charged with possession of marijuana, even if it’s not so much of a possession as it is a thing that happens to live in the car.

A University of Arizona Police Department officer stopped a student for making an illegal left turn near Euclid Avenue on March 7 at around 2:30 a.m.

The student told the officer he and his passenger were on their way back from a friend’s house and were headed to Árbol de la Vida Residence Hall. He also admitted that he had had two beers about four hours earlier.

It was then the officer’s partner noticed a was sticking out from underneath the backseat of the student’s car. The jar was visible through the window. Inside the jar was what looked like a pipe, a lighter and a green, leafy substance.

The officer asked the student and the passenger to step out of the car. He also asked whether or not the student had a medical marijuana card. The student said he did not.

The officer then asked if he could look inside the car, but the student said no. The officer informed the student he had probable cause and proceeded to search the vehicle.

The officer pulled the jar out, which contained all the aforementioned items, as well as matches and several empty plastic bags.

The officer spoke to the student, who, after being informed of his Miranda Rights, said he would answer the officer’s questions, depending on what they were.

The officer asked whether the marijuana belonged to him. The student said he did not smoke marijuana and was unwilling to say how the marijuana got in the car. It did not belong to his passenger or his parents, who also use the car, but do not smoke.

He said none of the items in the jar were his and the pipe was “ownerless.”

The student said he used to smoke but had not done so in about six months and that may have been when the marijuana got into the car.

The officer’s partner conducted an alcohol sobriety test on the student, who displayed six out of six cues of intoxication. The officer then conducted the walk and turn test, in which the student displayed three out of eight cues. When asked to stand on one leg, the student displayed only one cue out of a possible four.

The officers arrested the student for driving under the influence and transported him to the UAPD station. There he was given a breathalyzer test, which he blew 0.00 on twice.

They then asked the student for a blood test. The student asked to call his lawyer. After the call the student agreed to the blood test.

The student was cited and released for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and DUI. A referral was also sent to the Dean of Students Office.

Doctor’s Note

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but sometimes doctors need a little help keeping the danger away. That was the case for one College of Medicine professor after a patient she treated at a clinic became angry via email and allegedly made threats against her.

A UAPD officer spoke to the professor on March 4 about an encounter she had with a recent patient. The professor told the officer that in February, she treated a man at the Banner University Medical Center Clinic who had agreed to participate in a research study on the same day as his treatment.

The man later reached back out by email to the professor, requesting a letter he could send to the Teamsters Union regarding his disability. According to the professor, he asked her to use certain language in the letter she was not comfortable with and refused to use. She said her refusal made him sound angry in his email replies.

The professor was able to contact the man’s Teamster Union manager. The manager told her he’d heard the man say he would “kill everyone at work with a rifle.”

Within the man’s emails, he did not make any explicit threats, though he did use aggressive language, according to the professor.

The professor told the officer she wanted to report the incident because the man’s heated language in the emails caused her to worry he might come to campus. She did not know if he had access to campus or any weapons.

She also told the officer she believed the man was currently in New Mexico living with his girlfriend. She alleged the girlfriend may have helped escalate the situation though did not have any further information on her.

The professor forwarded the emails to the officer as evidence.

The officer advised the professor to contact UAPD if she saw the man on campus again or if the emails continued.

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