The smokers’ almost-escape

University of Arizona Police Department officers were approached by a woman in a UA parking lot on Vine Avenue who reported she had seen a group of men smoking marijuana while sitting at a table at the east side of the lot around 10 p.m. on Friday.

The officers went to the area and saw three men at a table. They could smell burned marijuana in the air. As the officers approached, the men began to walk away quickly. The officers shouted for them to stop. One of the men stopped and the other two ran away. The officers spoke to the man who stopped, who said he had been socializing with his friends who were smoking marijuana from a small, glass pipe. The man said he had intended to smoke as well, but did not because he saw the officers approaching. The officers warned the man about unlawful use of marijuana and a Code of Conduct form was forwarded to the Dean of Students.

Officers caught up with one of the men who had fled in Posada San Pedro Residence Hall. Two residents noticed the man was in distress and let him into the building. The man told the officers he had taken a hit from the pipe, which was not his, and ran because he was scared. He said he did have a medical marijuana card from California, but heard it was a felony in Arizona. The man said he had also been drinking.

The officers cited the man for possession of marijuana and minor in possession of alcohol in body. The officers were unable to contact the third man.

Tailgater ticketed

A UAPD officer was on patrol near Cherry Avenue Parking Garage when the officer noticed a car closely following another car through the exit gate of the garage around 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The officer stopped the car after it exited the garage and asked the driver if he knew why he was stopped.

“Because I didn’t pay for parking and I followed that other car out of the garage,” the man said.

The officer contacted Parking and Transportation Services and an enforcement agent responded to the garage. The man was cited for tailgating and a Code of Conduct form for theft of services was forwarded to the Dean of Students.

Sleepy in the stairwell

UAPD officers responded to the Park Avenue Parking Garage in reference to a man sleeping in the southwest stairwell of the garage around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The officers woke the man, who said he was homeless and often sleeps in the garage even though he knows he is not supposed to do so. A records check of the man revealed he had four outstanding warrants from Tucson Police Department and that he had been warned for sleeping in the garage twice before. He had another trespass warning from UAPD for sleeping on the south side of Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall earlier in the year. The man acknowledged his previous warnings.

The officers arrested the man for trespassing and the outstanding warrants. He was booked into Pima County Jail and given a six-month exclusionary order from the UA.