Food fight
Take a long-standing feud between two roommates, sprinkle in an argument about some misplaced food and a dash of late-night tension, and you have a recipe for disaster.
A University of Arizona Police Department officer arrived at Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall on Oct. 13 around 1 a.m. to get both sides of the story from the students involved. A resident assistant led him to a basement office where the first student was waiting.
She told the officer she and her roommate, the second student involved, do not get along. The pair had been through mediation attempts and roommate agreements with Housing and Residential Life, but it had not done much good so far, she said.
Earlier that night, she had been in the room alone while the second student was at the Arizona-Washington football game with her visiting family. She noticed that her empty pizza box and the second student’s Chinese food had been moved to the top of her refrigerator. According to the first student, the refrigerator belongs to her and she does not allow the second student to use it.
She moved the pizza box and Chinese food back onto the water jug that it had been sitting on top of earlier. Then she went to sleep.
The first student woke up when the second student and her family returned to the room after the football game. She told the officer she could hear the second student talking in the hallway about the moved food and how the two would need to discuss it.
When the second student entered the room, the pair began to argue. The first student said she would throw the food away.
The second student approached the first student, who was sitting on her bed. The first student said she did not remember exactly how, but the verbal argument escalated to a physical fight that left her without her glasses and three scratches on her arm courtesy of the second student.
She also said the second student cursed and insulted her before leaving the room.
The first student told the officer she did not feel safe in the room and would be spending the night at a friend’s place off campus. She did not know if she wanted to press charges for the assault.
The officer then spoke with the second student, who also told him that she and her roommate did not get along. She had previously requested to be moved to another room, as she did not want to live with the first student anymore.
She said during the argument over moving the food, she was within arm’s reach of the first student, who was sitting on her bed. The first student had hit her throat and kicked her while on the bed, she told the officer.
She said she did not want to press charges, as they were equally responsible for the fight.
A threat and a flex
Living away from home can be tough, and it does not get any easier when your roommate threatens you over something as simple as a water filter.
A UAPD officer arrived at Coronado Residence Hall on Oct. 13 at around 5:30 p.m. Once there, he spoke with the student who had made the call.
The student told him that his roommate had threatened him verbally a few days ago, though he could not remember if it was on the night of Oct. 10 or 11.
He said the two had been in their shared room when he asked his roommate to refill their Brita water filter. That was when the roommate began to get aggressive, according to the student.
According to the student, the two got into an argument, with the roommate eventually saying, “Imma have my dad come here and beat your weasel ass!”
Later on, the student found a picture on social media of the roommate holding what looked like a pistol, a move meant to “flex” on the student.
The student also said that the roommate had removed his mattress from their room the day before and spent the weekend away from the room. However, he had brought the mattress back that morning and was up in their room now.
A resident assistant took the officer up to the room, where he spoke with the roommate.
The roommate admitted that the argument, which was strictly verbal, had taken place and that he was a bit of a “hothead” during disagreements. He did not remember exactly what he said to the student. He also told the officer that he felt intimidated by the student’s size compared to his own.
He assured the officer that his father was not coming to come to campus to make good on his own threats.
When asked about the pistol picture, the roommate said that it belonged to his friend, who lived off campus. He had also already deleted the picture.
The student and the roommate discussed the situation and conflict resolution with the resident assistant. Ultimately, they decided to make a “chore schedule” to fairly determine who had to undertake which responsibilities in their room.
The student did not want to press charges. The officer sent FYI referrals for both students to the Dean of Students office.
Creepy Uber
Given how many stories of creepy rideshare drivers end up in Police Beats, it is amazing any of us still use these apps.
A UA student called UAPD and spoke with an officer about her unsettling experience with an Uber driver on Oct. 11 at around 1:30 a.m.
The student said she had left a party at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house. She got into a blue four-door sedan that she though was her Uber. Inside, the driver was a man in his 30s with a shaved head wearing glasses and a baseball hat.
When a friend said goodbye to her, addressing the student by her first name, the driver said, “So that’s your name.” Since the student used a nickname as her Uber name, she became suspicious and checked the Uber app, only to realize that the man in the car with her did not match the photo of her actual requested driver.
It was then she realized this was not her Uber.
She asked the driver to pull over and let her out. She said he slowly came to a stop, but when she tried to open the car door, it would not budge due to the child lock feature. She told the driver to roll down the window so she could pull on the outside handle. He said in a low voice that the door was broken from the inside. The student managed to reach out the window and open the car door.
She exited the car and got into her real Uber. Once she was safely home, she called to report the encounter.
The officer told her that Counseling and Psychological Services were available if the incident went on to bother her to the point that it negatively impacted her daily life.
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