THE PEPPORCIST
EAST BENSON HIGHWAY, AUG. 5, 4:43 P.M.
A woman tried to use words—and then black pepper—to exorcise the devil out of a neighbor, a Pima County Sheriff's Department stated.
Deputies at the scene found an elderly woman and another woman arguing. The latter—who'd reported the incident—told deputies that the elderly woman had come to her house that day with a Bible and started talking about how the reportee needed God in her life. At one point, the visiting lady put her hand on the other woman's shoulder; she responded by screaming at the elderly woman to get out of her apartment.
At that point, the reportee said, the elderly woman "puffed up" as if she wanted to fight, and screamed that "(the reportee) needed God in her life, and she was the devil and needed the devil out of her life." The older woman then took a mug she was holding and swung it at the reportee, striking her in the head, causing her to bleed.
After the reportee went outside to get some fresh air, she came back to find the old woman sprinkling pepper all round her house, as the woman stated, "to keep the devil away."
The elderly woman told deputies that the reportee practices witchcraft, and that she wanted to come to her house with a pepper-shaker to "ward off evil spirits."
The elderly lady was booked into jail for an outstanding warrant.
RIDE-BY SLAPPING
WEST RIVER ROAD, AUG. 12, 8:20 A.M.
What may have seemed to the perpetrator like a childish prank was actually an assault, according to a PCSD report.
A woman said that she'd been walking along a pathway near her house, as she did regularly, when she observed a young male—in her description, like "a younger version of Justin Timberlake—riding a bicycle near her. She said he said something like, "Good morning. Hi."
She said he then waved at her—but it was less of a hand wave than a hand gesture of some sort. She said it looked very odd to her and that perhaps the male had some sort of "retarded problem." He rode past her.
As she continued, she said, she was suddenly hit from behind. She said she soon discovered the male had ridden past her and hit her on the buttocks with his hand. She had a bruise, she said.
She was told to call the Sheriff's Department if she ever saw the man again.
