Student arrested for pointing handgun at another student

University police arrested Stephen J. Bender of the 100 block of South Players Club Drive on suspicion of disorderly conduct with a firearm and several related charges.

According to police reports, Bender and a student in a separate car flipped each other off while driving at North Park Avenue and East University Boulevard, said Bonnie Waterman, a University of Arizona Police Department officer

Both cars proceeded north to East Speedway Boulevard, where the occupants began to yell back and forth at each other, Waterman said.

They turned east on Speedway and then south on North Mountain Avenue, where the cars stopped as the men continued to yell at each other.

Waterman said that Bender took out his 9 mm semiautomatic Smith & Wesson pistol and pointed the gun at the other car's occupants: a 27-year-old student and his brother visiting from Illinois.

"We've heard of hostile drivers and this is pretty much what this stemmed from," said Cmdr. Brian Seastone of the University of Arizona Police Department.

The two men told officers that Bender pointed the gun at each of them for about five to seven seconds with his finger on the trigger.

Police reports stated the two drivers continued south on Mountain and separated at East Second Street and Mountain.

The student and his brother later reported the incident and Waterman pulled Bender's car over at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in front of Maricopa Residence Hall, 1031 E. North Campus Drive.

Waterman said she handcuffed Bender and asked him about the incident. He told her he had a gun in the glove compartment, because he did not want to leave the weapon at his apartment with his roommate, she said.

Bender denied the incident to police, but was identified by the other students.

He was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct with a firearm, disturbing the peace of an educational institution with a firearm, endangerment and possession of false identification.

Bender was taken to Pima County Justice Court for arraignment and later released from Pima Country Jail.