By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 1, 1998

Police Beat

University police arrested a Tucson man on an assault charge Wednesday after an officer spotted him "choking" his girlfriend, police reports stated.

An officer cruising the 800 block of East Sixth Street at 11:42 p.m. peeked through an open doorway and saw a man, later identified as Keith Carman Jr., 18, with his hands wrapped around the neck of a woman, shoving her into a sofa, reports stated.

The officer pulled into the driveway just as the door slammed shut and waited until another officer arrived seconds later before approaching the house.

As the other officer arrived, the door swung open and the woman ran out of the home, screaming, "He was choking me," reports stated.

As he was being handcuffed, Carman told one of the officers he was "trying to restrain" his girlfriend.

The woman told the other officer that the scuffle started when she pushed over some of Carman's belongings during an argument, and that Carman hadn't hit her and never would, reports stated.

The officer arrested Carman on an assault-domestic violence charge and took him to the Pima County Jail, where he was released yesterday.

A student Wednesday told university police a man videotaped her crotch area while she sat on the UA Mall near the Chemistry and Biological Sciences building, 1340 E. University Blvd.

The man was carrying a black backpack and video camera and appeared to be taping women's crotch areas on the Mall about 1:30 p.m., police reports stated.

The student told police she noticed the same man filming women on the Mall between noon and 1 p.m. Monday, adding that another woman she talked to did not realize the man had been taping her.

An employee reported his bicycle stolen Wednesday after he left it unlocked while attending a meeting at the Steward Observatory, 933 N. Cherry Ave.

The employee told police he left his bike on a rack at 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, then joined co-workers for an afternoon meeting.

When the man left the function about 2 p.m., he noticed his $115 silver Huffy mountain bike was nowhere in sight.

The employee told police he doesn't own a lock because he normally takes his bike inside the building with him.

Another employee locked his bike to the same rack about 1:10 p.m. and told his comrade that he did not see the missing bike, police reports stated.

The employee told police he waited to report his bike stolen because he was hoping one of his co-workers grabbed his bike and secured it inside the building, adding that he did not see anyone suspicious in the area.

Someone turned in an unfired .22-caliber long rifle bullet to university police headquarters Wednesday after finding it lying near Old Main, 1200 E. University Blvd.

The live round was placed into police lost and found.

An employee told university police someone may have stolen the overhead projector she left in a parking lot after finishing a class at the Alumni Foundation building, 1111 N. Cherry Ave.

The employee said she had finished teaching a class at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and was loading teaching materials into her car when someone began talking to her, police reports stated.

She then drove away and did not realize she left the projector in the parking lot until 6:30 a.m. the next day, reports stated.

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