Tiny Canine, Huge Commotion
UA Area
Dec. 30, 9: 14 a.m.
A man accused of kidnaping a Chihuahua received chilling threats over social media, a University of Arizona Police Department report stated.
UA officers met with a homeless man at the Main Library, where he was at the computers checking Facebook. He said some people were harassing him via Facebook and text, stating he'd stolen a Chihuahua.
Last year, he explained, he'd given his own Chihuahua to a (former) friend, and when he recently visited the friend's home, the little dog still liked him enough to follow him when he left—all the way to a bus stop, where it fled from a honking bus.
Now, said the reportee, the dog's new owner and her family were alleging that he "put the dog in a bag and took it to sell."
He said the accuser's uncles had guns, showing officers messages like, "You won't be able to live in Tucson" and, "I'll see to it your life is a living hell."
Interviewed by phone, the Chihuahua's owner affirmed that the dog had followed the reportee down her street and a "neighbor" saw his girlfriend put the Chihuahua in her purse. She said she'd been civil with the reportee until he started acting "vulgar."
The accused and his accuser both later hinted that they knew who really had the dog, but neither would say. They were commanded to cease contact, barring location of the dog.
Help Wanted
Foothills Area
Nov. 25, 2: 18 p.m.
A drunk criminal got himself in trouble instead of his alleged attackers after claiming he'd been "jumped"—specifically, jumped on—by a gang of teens, according to a Pima County Sheriff's Department report.
The man called dispatch to report a four-day-old assault, sounding drunk and saying he "did not want a deputy to come out unless they could help him."
When a sheriff's deputy did visit him, the man was indeed extremely intoxicated, "talking around in circles"—and he also had a shoplifting warrant. He didn't have obvious injuries, nor a reason for waiting four days to report being assaulted. He admitted he was an alcoholic and "usually does not take his medication and just tries to drink his pain away."
Without giving context, the man said that four Mountain View high-schoolers had "jumped" him—actually stomping on his head—and a hospital subsequently gave him "only ... a couple months to live."
Instead of escorting the man to Mountain View to apprehend his supposed attackers (especially considering he couldn't really remember them), the deputy decided to put him en route to jail for his warrant (with a hospital check-up beforehand).
"One of these days I am going to die," the man repeated over and over. "These guys cannot get away with what they did and God will punish them."
