Police Dispatch

Every Day Is Not Independence Day (Even With Firecrackers and a Gun)

Green Valley

August 29, 10:59 a.m.

A woman was seen in a truck throwing firecrackers around a usually peaceful neighborhood—and when her boyfriend tried to cover for her, he almost got himself in trouble by pulling out a loaded gun, according to a Pima County Sheriff's Department report.

A Green Valley resident told sheriff's deputies she and her neighbors had recently heard firecrackers go off all along their street on several occasions, but nobody could pinpoint the person throwing them until that morning, when she saw a woman in a silver truck throwing firecrackers out the window. The reportee provided the vehicle's license-plate number.

Deputies visited the home of the truck's recorded owner—a local man—but he denied ever throwing firecrackers (or dressing as a woman). He did say earlier that morning he'd let his girlfriend drive his truck, excusing himself inside his home to look for her. But he returned alone, saying she was showering.

At this point, he started to change his story, asserting he had been driving his truck earlier—specifically to a gun show. He then asked deputies if they could identify a gun he had in his pocket—and proceeded to retrieve it, even after deputies commanded him to stop and keep his hands visible. He simply said, "It's not loaded so what's the big deal?"

Actually, once deputies luckily retrieved the gun from him without further incident, it turned out the gun was loaded—and its safety mechanism was off.

Finally the man's girlfriend exited the residence and admitted she'd been in the truck earlier with her boyfriend. She also admitted to throwing firecrackers (but only two) out of the truck near the reportee's lawn. She was cited and released for disorderly conduct. (Her boyfriend apparently wasn't penalized for his behavior.)

When Will She Learn?

Green Valley

August 30, 10:23 p.m.

The same woman who’d been arrested for throwing firecrackers in Green Valley the day before (see above article) got into more trouble after she harassed the person who’d reported her activities, a PCSD report stated. Just following the woman’s disorderly-conduct citation, deputies were called by the neighbors of the reportee of the firecrackers incident. These neighbors—who’d presumably also had firecrackers thrown in to their yard, too—said a woman had been banging on their door late that night, saying, “Don’t be afraid; come out here”—but in a sinister way.

Coincidentally, when deputies visited the woman cited, she said she couldn’t have been banging on any doors because she and her boyfriend had just been out to see the movie Sinister. She couldn’t produce movie tickets to support her alibi, but deputies didn’t have enough probable cause to arrest her, since the reporting couple hadn’t seen her face. (The woman’s neighborhood popularity, however, was surely suffering.)