CRIMINAL BARTERING
EAST BENSON HIGHWAY
FEB. 19, 8:28 A.M.
A beer thief's heart may have been in the right place when he left something in exchange, according to a Pima County Sheriff's Department report.
Deputies met with a clerk at a Circle K, where she told them a man had entered the store and placed a butterfly knife on the counter before picking up a 12-pack of Budweiser and leaving without paying. Before he exited, the clerk said, she asked him if he wanted his knife back, but he said, "No, that is for you," adding that he didn't have any money.
She thought he might have been trying to pay for the beer with the knife. The knife was closed, and the clerk said she didn't feel threatened by it.
Deputies found the subject on foot at an intersection, apparently out of breath from running; he was standing near a Budweiser 12-pack. He originally introduced himself as a law-enforcement officer and gave a badge number, saying he "was about to catch some guys." He then said he'd met the deputy before and "could trust" him—before admitting he'd just stolen the beer from the Circle K.
He confirmed that he'd left the knife on the counter as a form of payment for the beer, because he was broke. He was cited for shoplifting and transported home.
INAPPROPRIATE CHOKING
UA AREA
MARCH 12, 2:15 P.M.
A man made a scene by putting a woman in a chokehold, a University of Arizona Police Department report said.
During the Tucson Festival of Books, a UA officer met with a Flandrau Science Center employee who'd been working the cash register. She said a man she knew entered and asked someone where the restroom was. When he saw her working, he approached her and put his hands around her neck. He allegedly said, "This isn't really an appropriate place to settle this. We are not finished." He then left.
She said he hadn't clutched her neck painfully or hard enough to restrict her breathing.
The employee said the man had once been her housemate, and she owed him about $100 for cable and utility bills, which had been a "sore spot" between them, but she hadn't seen him for about two years.
When officers apprehended the man, he looked calm but surprised. He admitted placing his hands on the reportee, "especially her throat," but said he only meant to "let her know that he'd eventually get the money he was owed." He admitted it was probably an "inappropriate action."
The subject was cited for assault and advised to take the woman to small-claims court instead of resorting to physical demonstrations.
