Police Beat 8/29/18: Joyride
Grand Theft Golf Cart
Two unknown male suspects took a joyride in a University of Arizona golf cart, then took off after crashing it into the University Services Building on Aug. 15.
Officers arrived on scene at approximately 5 p.m. and made contact with several UA Parking and Transportation employees who were standing near the cart.
The golf cart was unoccupied and appeared to be left running despite having no keys in its ignition. The cart was scratched, but still operable.
One of the officers spoke to an employee who said that at approximately 4:40 p.m., she saw a UA golf cart being driven recklessly with two college-aged males inside.
She saw the car scrape the side of a pillar before driving past her line of sight. She walked toward the direction they were headed and saw that the cart was stopped near a set of stairs.
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She says one of the men walked up to her and told her that they’d been driving down a ramp when the golf cart lost control and struck the stairs. He then handed her a key and took off, along with the other man.
The employee gave the officer the key, which he noted clearly did not belong to the golf cart. He suspected that the men had used it to turn the ignition more easily.
The officer contacted the coordinator for UA admissions, to which the cart was registered, who said that she noticed the cart missing at around 5 p.m. This was odd considering no one had permission to use it and she still had the ignition key.
The coordinator told the officer that she was unsure if she wanted to prosecute, as she would need to check with her supervisor.
She estimated the cart was worth $12,000.
Punk’d Rock
A YouTube prankster wasn’t laughing after one of his videos made a woman so uncomfortable that she called UAPD on Aug. 18.
The officer made contact with the woman, a UA student, at approximately 6:45 p.m., which was about 15 minutes after the incident occurred.
She told the officer that she was walking along the UA mall when a man she didn’t know stepped in front of her and said something like, “You are beautiful, and I am in love with you.”
He then presented her with a rock as a token of his love.
The woman saw another man a few feet away holding a camcorder, though not directing it at her.
She sidestepped the first man and kept walking. He appeared to be following her, so she turned around and told him that she would call the police. He stopped following.
She told the officer that at no time did the man touch or threaten her, but his behavior made her uncomfortable.
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Given this information, the officer had no probable cause to respond to a crime being committed, though he told the woman that he would notify the dean of students of the incident.
The officer then made contact with another officer who had earlier obtained the contact information of subjects who matched the description given by the woman.
Upon speaking with the man, also a UA student, the officer learned that he had his own YouTube prank channel and that the incident earlier was to be his prank for the day. His account of the incident matched the woman’s.
He told the officer that once she threatened to call the police, he became scared and deleted the video of her.
The man said that of the 200 pranks he and his cameraman have carried out, this was the first to result in police being called.
The officer informed the man that he was notifying the dean of students. He also informed the woman that the recording of her had been erased.
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