By Joseph Altman Jr.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
A 33-year-old Tucson man was arrested Sunday night after he resisted arrest and assaulted a UA police officer.
Philip B. Camacho, of the 700 block of South Second Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer, criminal damage of more than $250, failure to provide proof of identity, resisting arrest, possession of fictitious license plates and driving with a suspended license.
Police stopped Camacho after a community service officer reported seeing a male drinking from an open container of alcohol while operating a white Dodge van. The CSO checked the license plate, which came back as expired. The plates had a 1996 tab on them, however.
Camacho, who was driving the vehicle, parked the van on North Santa Rita Drive, south of East Sixth Street, and walked to Pizza City, 1145 E. Sixth Street, while still holding the container.
An officer stopped to investigate the fictitious tags on the van. Police said they asked Camacho for his license, registration and insurance, but he would not provide the information or tell the officer his name.
A second officer went to the van to speak with a boy in the van. Police said Camacho then became agitated and asked what the second officer was doing. When the officer said she was just checking on the boy's welfare, Camacho said, "Fuck that, I want to talk to my son." He then stared at the second officer and took a step toward her.
After Camacho repeatedly said he wanted to talk to his son and continued to move toward the van, the first officer handcuffed Camacho. As the officer tried to take Camacho to the patrol car, he resisted and tried to knock the officer off balance, police said.
When the officer could not get Camacho into his patrol car, he tried to bring Camacho to the curb, but Camacho continued to knock the officer off balance. The officer then used his body weight to bring Camacho to the ground.
While on the ground, police said Camacho began kicking at the officer's back and trying to grab his legs. The officer put his knees on Camacho's neck and back to restrain him as he called for backup.
When other officers arrived, they were able to get Camacho into a patrol car, but Camacho began trying to kick out the car's windows.
Officers tried again to restrain Camacho, who then bit the arresting officer twice on the right arm. The officer was not injured.
Camacho was taken to Pima County Jail where officers were able to calm him down and take him to a holding cell.
The window frames on the patrol car's rear windows were bent out several inches from when Camacho kicked at them.
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More than $4,200 worth of computer equipment was taken from a room at Steward Observatory, 933 N. Cherry Ave., sometime Friday or Saturday.
An employee reported he secured the room at 5:30 p.m. Friday, but when he returned at 11:45 a.m. the next day, a Gateway 486 computer and 40-megabytes of memory were gone.
The employee said eight to 10 staff members have keys to the room, not including custodial staff.
No discernible fingerprints were found on the scene.
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A resident of Coronado Hall, 822 E. Fifth St., told police someone had burglarized her room Friday.
The resident said that she and her roommate left the room at 9:30 p.m. and locked the door before leaving. A resident assistant found the door to the room open at 10:30 p.m. and secured it.
The next day, the resident noticed a gold Seiko watch, two 35-millimeter cameras and assorted compact discs missing.
There was no evidence of forced entry and the RA reported no suspicious people in the area. The items are valued at $405.
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A member of Delta Tau Delta, 1550 N. Vine Ave., called police Sunday morning after seeing a man attempting to take the house's stereo.
The member said he was coming down the main stairwell at 4:20 a.m. when he saw someone in the main common area trying to remove a stereo from its housing unit.
The member then yelled at the suspect, who ran out through the north sliding door and got into a red Chevy Blazer parked outside.
The member returned to the house to call police when a second man came out of the basement and ran out a door to the Blazer.
The stereo was partially removed, but nothing was stolen.
According to police, the fraternity had no front door at the time of the burglary because it was damaged in an unrelated incident.
Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.