By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 30, 1998

Police Beat

A university police officer Tuesday searched the snowy woods near Mount Graham International Observatory after a construction worker reported seeing a man wandering inside the site.

The worker saw a man about 40 yards into the site at 9:15 a.m., then called police after the man slipped into the surrounding forest, police reports stated.

An officer later arrived and, accompanied by a police dog, searched the area surrounding the site after he picked up a trail of footprints in the fresh snow left from the weekend, reports stated.

The officer followed the tracks, which appeared to be left by hiking shoes, as they wrapped around the site and then vanished into the dirt access road, reports stated.

Further scouting revealed similar tracks that followed the road and then backtracked up to the site, but the officer found nobody in the area, reports stated.

A UA Parking and Transportation Services employee called university police Tuesday after discovering somebody had tried to pry a parking boot off a 1997 Chevy pickup truck parked at Lot 1115, near East Helen Street and North Park Avenue.

The employee told the officer he placed the boot on the vehicle about 3:30 p.m.

He returned about two hours later and discovered the boot had been damaged to the point where it would have to be cut from the vehicle, police reports stated.

The employee told police he could not be sure the driver was responsible for the damage.

A student told university police Monday that a man threatened him while he walked out of an elevator on the fourth floor of the Modern Languages building, 1423 E. University Blvd.

The 44-year-old student told police a group of men standing near the elevator at 12:50 p.m. began laughing at him because he has a learning disability, so he "flipped them off," police reports stated.

One of the men then asked the student "what his deal was," and told him that he did not appreciate his gesture and was going to "get him back" either that day or the next, reports stated.

The student helped police draw a composite sketch of the man but said he did not want to pursue criminal charges unless something else happens, reports stated.

A Tucson man returning to his vehicle Monday to retrieve some sports equipment discovered that somebody had broken his window and taken his stereo while the car was parked in a lot near East Adams Street and North Vine Avenue.

The damage was first noticed by employees at University Medical Center, who called police about 3:30 p.m., police reports stated.

The owner of the 1990 Toyota Corolla called police about 5:30 p.m. and told them he had just returned to his car to get some baseball gear from his trunk when he discovered that somebody had smashed his window and taken his $250 Pioneer stereo, reports stated.

The man told police his wife had parked the car at 8 a.m. to go to work and that he did not see anybody suspicious in the area.

University police cited a man on a trespassing charge early Monday after finding him catching some Zs in the Main Library, 1510 E. University Blvd.

At 12:44 a.m., two officers came across Maher M. Elkhufash, 35, of the 3700 block of North Fairview Avenue, asleep in a chair on the fourth floor, police reports stated.

Elkhufash said he previously had been warned about sleeping in the library, which the officers confirmed before escorting him out of the building, reports stated.

They then cited Elkhufash on a trespassing charge and released him.

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