Drunk and High Dive
July 8, 12:52 a.m.
East Enke Drive
Four inebriated young men broke into the University of Arizona's pool in order to jump off the highest diving board for cheap thrills, according to a UA Police Department report.
Three UA officers responded to the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center late one Saturday night in response to a call regarding suspicious activation of the facility's motion detectors, evidently due to four male students who'd broken in and had just jumped a wall trying to escape. The first officer on scene—spotting all four males running barefoot away from the pool building—turned on his patrol vehicle's lights and pulled over to give chase on foot.
One male quickly "got tired" and lay down to let himself be handcuffed, telling the officer he'd been drinking at Gentle Ben's Brewing Company, 865 E. University Blvd., and had met a fellow student who asked him if he "wanted to jump the 10-meter dive," and he'd agreed. He said that young man led him and two other boys to the aquatics center, where their guide punched in a code on the door, allowing them all to enter—and then joyously jump off the diving board, partially clothed.
Another officer soon caught the next young man, who related a similar story, although he didn't identify any of his companions as having the entry code to the pool building—in fact, he didn't remember any of their identities, simply noting that he "thought one had a unique name, similar to Channing Tatum" (which didn't turn out to make much sense later, once all names had been verified). This subject said he'd participated in the prank because jumping off the high dive was "on his college bucket list."
The third boy—nabbed while running barefoot in wet shorts across the UA lawn—also admitted to breaking into the pool with three guys from the bar, but he tried to downplay the pool break-in by insisting he was only in the water for "1.5 minutes." This male, smelling very strongly of alcohol, said he'd had "four drinks."
The fourth subject—wearing sagging, soaking-wet jeans and reeking more of chlorine than alcohol—was finally apprehended at Third Street and Norris Avenue. Invoking his Miranda rights, he declined to answer questions about the incident. (Although he did ask one officer, "Can you give me a ride to my 'accomplices'?" while actually using air quotes for the word "accomplices"; this request was denied.)
The foursome was cited and released for trespassing, and each was reported to the UA dean of students. Luckily they'd done no damage to the pool area other than leaving wet hand and footprints on the exterior wall they'd jumped over, as well as turning the grass beneath the wall into a mud patch where they'd landed during their attempted escape. Their arresting officers helpfully located some pricey athletic shoes that had been lost by two boys.
