Paint the town yellow
Paintball is only fun if every player has a fair shot, but shooting paintballs at two students on Tuesday night is less fun and games and more assault.
Two University of Arizona students called the police after being hit with paintballs in the Tyndall Avenue Garage on Oct. 29. When a University of Arizona Police Department officer arrived at around 12:30 a.m., he spoke with the students who relayed the following tale.
The pair were walking out of the garage when a dark-colored car, either black or gray, drove by them. The person sitting in the seat behind the driver shot several paintballs at them, hitting the two students. The car then drove off, heading toward Park Avenue.
According to the students, the car was full, with at least four people inside. None of the passengers inside the vehicle said or shouted anything while the paintballs were being shot and the sniper’s window was only rolled down about one third of the way. Neither student could describe the people inside the car.
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One of the students said he was hit on his forehead and on his left cheek below his eye. The officer noted yellow paint residue left over on the student’s cheek, as well as bits of green and yellow paint on his left eyebrow.
The second student said he had been stuck on his right arm and left thigh. The officer found bright yellow paint on the second student’s right sleeve and pant leg. He also noticed that part of the second student’s right forearm was red and swollen.
Neither student wanted medical attention, according to the report. The students did wish to pursue charges if the people in the car were identified. The officer took photos of their injuries for evidence.
After giving the students Victim’s Rights forms, the officer contacted Parking and Transportation Services to see if he could review security footage from cameras inside the garage, but no one was available at the time.
The officer followed up later that day and a PTS employee helped him review the footage. However, the license plate number and the identities of the four men associated with the car could not be determined.
Switcheroo
A UA student who came to the UAPD station to report her encounter with an Uber driver ended up being the one who had to deal with disciplinary measures.
Ironically, the student and her friend took a different Uber to get to the station on Nov. 1. When an officer came to speak to the student at around 1 a.m., he reported that the second Uber driver, the one who had driven the women to the station, attempted to explain the situation. The officer asked if she was the driver in question, and when she said she was not, the officer told her that he only wanted to speak to the two women, as they were the ones with a complaint.
The officer and the two women came into the station to give their statements. While exiting the vehicle, one student said that her right middle finger had been smashed in a car door earlier that night. She did not want medical attention, however.
When the officer asked for identification, the student opened her wallet and the officer noticed what looked like a driver’s license at the top. He moved his flashlight to see it better, but the student turned her back to him and moved her cards around. The officer walked to face her and noticed she had removed the license from her wallet and was trying to hide it.
The student handed him a different license and feigned ignorance when the officer asked about the other license. He took the other license from under her wallet where she had been trying to hide it. According to that license, the student was over 21 years of age, which conflicted with the license she had originally handed him.
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After the identification mishap, the officer took the student’s statement. She said that earlier that night, she and her friend had been in an Uber with a disagreeable driver. The driver told them to be quiet and grew angrier and angrier until he pulled over near Highland Avenue and Sixth Street, according to the student. He told them to get out.
As the student was exiting the car, the driver closed the door, causing her finger to get stuck. The officer examined her finger and did not notice any major injuries beyond redness and slight swelling.
The student said she did not want to press changes but she was reporting the incident to the police so the driver would never do this again. The officer told her that he did not have enough cause to find and interview the driver but he would make a case report in case she changed her mind about pressing charges.
The officer then asked the student if she would like to explain her license with a fake birthday, to which the student said “no,” and refused to answer any questions about it.
The officer told her he could smell alcohol on her breath throughout their conversation but that he would refer to the UA Diversion Program because she had come to the station to file a complaint.
Tunnel Cinderella
A UAPD officer went on a scavenger hunt for several items that surely have an interesting — and possibly disturbing — story behind them.
Police received a call about suspicious items possibly located in the Olive Tunnel under Speedway Boulevard on Oct. 28. An officer checked the area but did not find anything.
The officer then inspected the Warren Avenue Tunnel and found the items, which included a woman’s tank top with blood on it, a silver platter that also had blood on it, a picture of a woman, two high heeled shoes, two more shoes, a makeup tool and a photo memorial card.
According to the officer’s reporter, the blood on the shirt and platter was minimal and appeared dried and like it had been on the items for a while.
He asked a man in the surrounding area if he had seen the items or knew they were there, but the man said he had not.
A second officer later found similarly strange items in the same tunnel, including a red backpack with VHS tapes inside. The backpack also appeared to have some dried blood on it.
All of the items were entered into the station’s Found Property.
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