Dude, sorry about your car…

A car caught fire on Highland Avenue on Feb. 18.

A UA police aide flagged down a University of Arizona Police Department officer by Highland Avenue and Seventh Street at 9:16 p.m.

The police aide told the officer that a vehicle was on fire near Sixth Street.

The officer continued north on Highland Avenue and saw the vehicle in the roadway.

There was a large amount of smoke and flames were erupting from the hood of the vehicle.

Several burned objects were falling to the ground from below the vehicle.

The officer placed his patrol car in a position to block traffic on Highland Avenue and contacted Tucson Fire Department.

Additional UAPD was also called in to block the street.

The officer met with the driver of the vehicle. The man was standing on the side of the street next to the officer’s patrol vehicle.

The man said the vehicle belonged to a friend who was on his way to the scene.

The vehicle stalled in the middle of the roadway, the man said. He tried to get the vehicle started again by pumping the accelerator and turning the ignition, but it would not start.

The man said that a pedestrian on the sidewalk then  informed the man that the car was on fire.

The man and a female passenger in the car were able to get out of the vehicle uninjured.

TFD arrived and was able to extinguish the fire.

No damage was caused to the surrounding area and buildings.

TFD said the cause of the fire was a fuel leak from under the hood of the car.

The owner of the car arrived and told the officer and TFD that the car had been having issues recently.

The owner noticed the odor of gasoline while driving the car and had recently put liquid into the fuel tank to clean it out.

The stalling problems were very recent.

The damaged car was transported to the owner’s house by a tow service.

Mystery emails sent to student

A female UA student received a disturbing email from a stranger on Feb. 18 at 3:22 p.m.

A UAPD officer met with the student at Highland Market to talk about an email that the student had received.

The student lost her state identification card two weeks prior.

The student normally carried the card inside her wallet in her backpack. The student said she believed the card fell out somewhere because nothing else in the wallet or backpack was disturbed or missing.

On Feb. 18, two emails were sent to the student’s cell phone.

The emails contained photographs of the missing state identification card and no other content.

The student was worried because the student’s cell phone number was not listed in the UA directory.

The student did not recognize the email address and said that no friends would do something similar to this.

The officer informed the student that the email was not a criminal act but advised the student to monitor her personal information to ensure that her identity was not stolen.

The officer told the student to inform UAPD if any more disturbing emails were received.

The officer sent an email to the address in the phone message ordering the return of the identification. The officer didn’t receive a response.

Engrossed student shoplifts book

A male UA student was cited for shoplifting at 12:38 p.m. on Feb. 18 after absentmindedly walking out of the UofA Bookstore with a paperback book.

A UAPD officer responded to the bookstore at 12:24 p.m. after a call from a loss prevention employee.

The employee told the officer that bookstore staff saw a student take a paperback book that was on display and walk out of the bookstore without paying for it.

The employee pointed out the suspected student and escorted the student and UAPD to the conference room in the bookstore.

The officer asked the student what happened.

The student took the book, “”Pygmy Palahniuk,”” off the shelf and began reading it.

The student said that the book was so interesting that he wanted to continue reading it on the UA Mall.

The student left the bookstore and was immediately confronted by a loss prevention employee.

The student said that it never occurred to him that he was shoplifting until he was approached.

The student said it was a stupid thing to do and apologized.

The officer cited and released the student on the scene.

The loss prevention employee told the student to not return to the bookstore or else the student would be arrested for trespassing.

The officer filled out a Dean of Students Office referral for the student’s code of conduct violation.