One man’s tool is another man’s weapon 

A non-UA affiliated woman was approached by a man who pulled a garden tool on her in the courtyard of the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering building on Feb. 12. 

The woman was waiting for her father, a UA employee, to get off work. To occupy herself, she was listening to music with one earbud. 

The man approached her and asked how much money she paid for her cell phone, which made her uncomfortable. She said her father had purchased it, so she didn’t know the exact cost. He asked if he could hold her cell phone, and she said no.

Then, the man reached into his left sleeve and pulled out a metal garden tool with a wooden handle used to pull weeds. 

The woman became scared, so she got up from where she was sitting, leaving her backpack and its contents on the bench. She called her father who was across the street and told him what happened. 

She said the man was walking south on Mountain Avenue near Speedway Boulevard. She described the man to a University of Arizona Police Department officer as looking to be in his 20s, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and blue jeans. She also said he had a cut on his top lip and was missing his bottom teeth. 

The suspect was later found at the UA Bookstore and taken to jail.

Flippin’ them the bird

A UAPD officer was called on a harassment complaint at 1518 E. Lester St. regarding a UA employee on Feb. 12 at approximately 3:09 p.m. 

The employee in question was laid off over a year ago from the UA because he was confrontational, called his supervisor names and intimidated other UA employees. 

According to the report, the former employee flipped off another employee when he saw him driving on campus.

The former employee was seen again later by other employees where he used to work and flipped off all of them without saying anything. 

According to the police report, he was seen driving a blue 2002 Ford F150 in both incidents. 

The woman who reported him only wanted to report the most recent incident, because she didn’t know his state of mind and did not know if these incidents would escalate further. She told the officer that other employees have similarly brushed him off. 

The officer didn’t find any reason for the man to be on campus and contacted Human Resources about retrieving an exclusionary order. She advised the employer to have her employees contact UAPD if the man was seen on campus again or if he engaged in any more disruptive or threatening behavior. 

— Compiled by Amber White