But Officer, He Started It!
San Xavier Beat
Nov. 11, 8:55 a.m.
A panhandler became criminally aggressive when people wouldn't give him money—and then whined about it when he was caught, according to a PCSD report.
A clerk at a west-side Circle K told deputies a man had been wandering around the parking lot that morning, asking people for money, and when someone politely refused, the man would "get in their face." The clerk said several customers had complained to her about him.
Deputies interviewed one of those people—a man in a gray truck—who said when he'd simply said "No" to the panhandler's request for money, the panhandler had gotten very angry and, from his words and tone, the man was truly afraid the panhandler would try to fight him.
When deputies found the panhandler one building away and told him what was going on, the he said, "But he screamed at me first!" (referring to the man in the gray truck).
In fact, the subject insisted, he didn't think he could've screamed very well at all because "he did not have a very strong voice because he thought he had a cold."
Deputies told him that numerous Circle K customers had also complained about his aggression—and he'd been accused of stealing a cup of coffee. (To that accusation, he replied that he'd made himself a cup because a woman said she'd buy it for him—but the evidence made deputies decide he was lying.)
The man was cited and released for disorderly conduct and shoplifting. After signing his citation, the man said, "I guess I deserve this one." He then said, "I bet you I keep my mouth shut the whole way home."
