POLICE BEAT

Police were called to the bookstore, 1209 E. University Blvd., after security guards detained John F. Halbig, 56, of the 5500 block of East Kelso Street.

Halbig had been arrested Sept. 3 at the bookstore on suspicion of attempted shoplifting, and after being banned from the bookstore, entered the premises again Sept. 9 and had to be removed by police, reports stated.

Two security guards pointed out Halbig to police, who told him to turn around and put his hands on his head.

Halbig said to police, "No, I'm not gonna," reports stated.

When one of the guards blocked him from running, reports stated Halbig proceeded to punch him in the eye.

Police officers tried to handcuff Halbig but were unable to grab his hands. One of the officers then struck Halbig twice in the knees and knocked him down to the ground, reports stated.

Police tried to handcuff Halbig again while he tried to bite the guard, reports stated.

Police then sprayed Halbig in the face with pepper spray after repeated failed attempts to control him. Paramedics checked Halbig at the bookstore before he was taken to the Pima County Jail.

While driving to the jail, Halbig spat in an officer's face twice and made a comment about killing the officers someday, reports stated.

A UA student whose face was smashed early Sunday by four men seen fleeing Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall said he will not press charges against his assailants but will get revenge instead.

University police responded to Manzanita-Mohave, 1000 N. Park Ave., at 3:30 a.m. after witnesses called to report seeing four men run from the dorm and yell some-thing about breaking someone's nose, police reports said.

The two witnesses told police they saw the men running away but didn't see them strike anyone. They then directed police to the fourth floor of the dorm, where police found the 18-year-old victim standing in the bathroom with blood covering the front of his shirt.

The victim told police he didn't know his attackers and said he wouldn't press charges if police find them.

The victim said that "they (the attackers) would get theirs" and that police would soon "be reading about some murders in the papers," police reports stated.

He also said, "We don't put up with shit like that where I come from," reports stated. The victim is from New York City, according to police reports.

Police searched the dorm area but were unable to locate any suspects. The victim refused medical attention but said he would go to the hospital later if necessary.

University police arrested a UA student early Sunday morning after he was seen walking naked near the Biological Sciences West building, 1007 E. Lowell St., police reports stated.

Officers spotted Robert Brandon Bliss, 18, a resident of Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall, 910 E. Fifth St., walking naked near North Park Avenue and East Lowell Street. When Bliss saw the police, he ran behind a building and stopped to put on his boxers and pick up his shirt and shorts, reports stated.

Bliss kept running toward East Sixth Street after police ordered him to stop. Police called for other officers, who chased Bliss and apprehended him at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and East Seventh Street.

Bliss told officers at university police headquarters that he drank a 40-ounce beer in his dorm room with friends before they dared him to walk around campus naked, police reports stated. He then told police his feet were sore from running barefoot.

Police cited Bliss on suspicion of underage drinking and resisting arrest and then took him back to the dorm, reports stated.

A UA student reported being followed Friday afternoon by an unknown man in an old, faded red pickup truck.

The victim told police she was riding her bike near the intersection of East Helen Street and North Fremont Avenue when she noticed the pickup following her. The woman said the driver stared at her, police reports stated.

She locked her bike in front of McClelland Hall, 1130 E. Helen St., when she saw the truck drive by several times. She said the man in the truck was watching her and he drove by again as she was entering McClelland Hall.

The student told police she left the building three hours later. When she arrived at her home, she saw the pickup truck drive by her house. She then went inside and called university police, reports stated.

Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.