By
Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Garcia, Thurman cited for damage after argument over video game
Two members of the Arizona football team were arrested Tuesday night after an on-campus fight resulting from a disagreement over a video game, police reports stated.
Junior quarterback Erik Garcia, 24, and freshman wide receiver Andrae Thurman, 20, were arrested by university police at their Palm Shadows Apartments residence, 1816 E. Helen Ave. Both were arrested on charges of criminal damage of less than $250.
According to reports, the incident began at about 8:30 p.m. when Garcia and Thurman were playing a Sega DreamCast football game in Garcia's room. Garcia, who transferred to Arizona last season from East Los Angeles Community College, told police that the two began verbally antagonizing each other while playing the game, which led to the fight.
"It was kind of dumb really," Garcia said yesterday.
Garcia told police he did not remember who hit whom first. Thurman, who declined comment, said Garcia initiated the fist fight by punching him on the side of the face, reports stated.
When police arrived at about 8:40 p.m., the front window of Garcia's room was shattered, and the inside of the apartment was "in complete disarray," reports stated.
Among the damaged property was a coffee table with two of its legs broken and blood-stained carpet.
Thurman, a redshirt freshman wide receiver from Avondale, west of Phoenix, was transported to University Medical Center where he was treated for a deep cut above his left eye. Garcia was uninjured but had blood all over his body and clothing, reports stated.
Head football coach John Mackovic and his assistant coaches were away from their office yesterday for the "Wildcats Tracking Arizona" tour and could not be reached for comment.
UA Athletic Director Jim Livengood was also unavailable for comment yesterday afternoon.
Kathleen "Rocky" LaRose, UA senior associate athletic director, said she was not aware of the reported incident.
Patrick Call, associate director for Residence Life, also declined to comment about the incident, but said it is a UA policy to charge dorm residents for any damage they cause.
"Any student who causes damage to the building, whether they break something or whatever, we're going to ask them to pay for that," Call said.
Garcia did not want to talk about the incident yesterday, but said he did not think it would affect his status as a full-scholarship athlete.
"I don't know if they'd do anything bad because fights happen," he said.
Bill Morgan, the UA director of compliance, said the terms of athletic scholarships are good for one academic year. If the UA wished to remove an athlete's scholarship during the school year, an independent university committee would have to conduct a hearing before taking any actions.
