Seeing red

A male student was walking on Park Avenue at 6:22 a.m. on Tuesday when he noticed a man lying on his back and not moving. The student asked him if he was OK. The man did not respond, and the student noticed that he smelled heavily of alcohol and had red stains on his shirt and on the side of his mouth.

The student then called the University of Arizona Police Department. Officers and paramedics from UAPD, Tucson Fire Department and the Tucson Medical Center responded. Officials approached the man, who they determined was also a UA student. The student who originally found the man told the officers he had to leave because he had class.

Officers shook the man on the ground until he finally awoke. The officers asked if he had any official identification on him, and he said no. The officers then asked if the stains on his shirt were blood, and the man said, “No, it’s vomit.” He said the dinner he ate the night before contained a lot of red-colored food.

Officers noticed that the man was still heavily intoxicated because he could barely stand on his feet. Paramedics took him to Saint Mary’s Hospital. Officers cited him for minor in possession of alcohol in body.

*Scary salvia *

A male student called UAPD early Thursday morning and said that he and a friend had smoked salvia. After getting high, his friend stormed out of their residence hall threatening to hurt himself and hallucinating.

Officers went to the residence hall and asked the caller where he thought his friend went, but the caller wasn’t sure. Officers then got in their car to look for the hallucinating man, and found him in one of the dance studios in the Ina E. Gittings building. Officers asked the man if he was OK, and he told them that this was his first time smoking salvia. He told officers that he had a history of mental illness and is on several medications. He then told officers that he never said he wanted to hurt himself and that he was hallucinating.

“I have been doing research on the Internet about salvia and I wanted a natural supplement that would help my mental illness,” he said.

Officers asked him where he bought the salvia, and he said he bought it from Sky Smoke Shop. The man’s sister then arrived and spoke with the officers. She told them that her brother’s depression had been getting worse and that he recently lost 30 pounds in an unhealthy way.

The officers told the man that he should not smoke salvia anymore. He said, “Can you guys walk with me to my car on top of Cherry (Parking) Garage? You guys can take the salvia and the bong, I don’t want it anymore.”

Officers walked him to his car, and the man took out his salvia and bong and gave the items to the officers. Paramedics from the Tucson Fire Department and representatives from Mental Health Services arrived and spoke with the man for more than one hour.

The man then agreed to let them take him to the University of Arizona Medical Center because they were concerned about him mixing prescription drugs and salvia. The salvia and bong were placed into UAPD Property and Evidence.