By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 6, 1998

Police Beat

Two students' heated battle on a tennis court Wednesday apparently sparked the men's blood to boil at Graham-Greenlee Residence Hall, 610 N. Highland Ave., after the match.

When police arrived at 7:12 p.m., a female student told officers the two students had first squared off in a first-floor room, and one of the combatants was now in the men's shower, police reports stated.

The showering student told police he had been in another student's room when a discussion about an earlier tennis game became heated.

The man told police the student ordered him to leave his room, then shoved him into the hallway, reports stated.

The man retaliated with a shove of his own before leaving to go take a shower, reports stated.

The other student involved in the melee told police the man was in his room yelling and throwing his things around and that he had to push him out because he wouldn't leave.

Police told the two to stay away from each other and neither student he wanted to press charges.

A student reported that her Jeep was vandalized Monday night while parked in a lot near the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house, 1435 E. Second St.

The student told university police she parked her 1995 Jeep Wrangler on the southwest side of the house at 10:30 p.m. and returned at 10 a.m. the next day to find someone had bent her Jeep's driver's side door and broken the interior door handle, police reports stated.

The student told police nothing was missing, and that she doesn't know of anybody who would have trashed her vehicle.

University police arrested a Tucson man on a felony warrant early Tuesday after finding him riding his bicycle without a headlight near North Cherry Avenue and East University Boulevard.

Police spotted Silviono E. "Smitty" Smith, 25, of the 2300 block of East Third Street, coasting on a bike with a broken chain and no headlight east on University Boulevard about 2 a.m., police reports stated.

Police discovered Smith had a warrant for failure to appear in a New Mexico court, and arrested him after warning him for the bike violations, reports stated.

Smith was booked into the Pima County Jail, where he was awaiting extradition to New Mexico.

A Tucson man was arrested after university police noticed the truck he was driving had plates displaying outdated tags near North Euclid Avenue and East Drachman Street.

Police stopped Martin J. Tapia, 22, of the 6300 block of S. Camino Verde, at 6:19 p.m. when they saw the tags on his 1968 GMC pickup truck expired in May 1995, reports stated.

Police found that Tapia had a warrant for failure to appear in court on charges of displaying fictitious license plates, and his license was suspended, reports stated.

Tapia was cited for failure to obtain a current Arizona registration and booked into Pima County Jail for the warrant and a charge of driving on a suspended license. He was later released by Pre-Trial Services.

University police helped a disabled boy get home Tuesday night after a UA employee spotted him riding his bicycle in the Park Avenue Garage, 1140 N. Park Ave.

Police arrived at the garage about 9 p.m. and realized the boy had a mental disability, police reports stated.

The 16-year-old boy was wearing an orange vest and a bicycle helmet, which both displayed his name, address and telephone number on them, reports stated.

Police called the number and spoke to the boy's father, who told them he was just about to call Tucson police to report his son missing, reports stated.

When the boy's father arrived, he told police his son was afflicted with cerebral palsy and may have chosen to stay near the UA because he is familiar with campus-area businesses that have given him food and beverages before, reports stated.

The boy was taken home by his father.

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