Police Beat

By Joseph Altman Jr.

Arizona Daily Wildcat

A desk clerk at Coronado Residence Hall, 822 E. Fifth St., reported receiving a harassing phone call Thursday night.

At 8:25 p.m., the clerk answered the phone when a female caller asked him, "(Name withheld), do you want a blow job?" The clerk replied "no" and then asked the caller for her name. She identified herself as "Tina," but when the clerk asked her for her last name, she hung up.

The desk clerk told police he was upset by the call. He said he did not recognize the caller's voice, but said it sounded like she was disguising her voice as a "porn star."

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A student broke a piece of laboratory equipment Thursday and suffered a .75-inch cut to his stomach.

The student in the Chemistry and Biological Science Building, 1340 E. University Blvd., accidentally broke a glass pipet in a laboratory.

The Tucson Fire Department responded and transported the student to St. Mary's Hospital.

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A woman exiting McKale Garage in her car Wednesday struck a stop sign and knocked over a 12-foot Saguaro cactus after she said her accelerator got stuck.

According to witnesses, the vehicle, a gray 2-door Buick, was exiting the garage at 1641 E. Enke Dr. when it began accelerating. The car struck a stop sign and proceeded to drive on a sidewalk, nearly hitting two pedestrians. The car then knocked over the cactus and re-entered the garage, striking a parked car.

Police found the vehicle halfway in the garage with the cactus on top of it, smashing the roof of the car.

The driver of the vehicle, who was transported to University Medical Center with minor injuries, said her accelerator stuck and she was forced to run into the cactus to avoid hitting the pedestrians.

No citations were issued.

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Police arrested a woman Thursday night for refusing to provide proof of her identity to police while she questioned an officer's authority to stop her for expired registration.

Helen E. Louie, 43, who did not provide her address to police, was stopped near the intersection of East Lester Street and North Martin Avenue after an officer noticed the license tags on her tan Chrysler sedan expired in July 1993.

When the officer requested Louie's driver's license, registration and proof of insurance, the woman did not respond, and instead took notes with a pen and pad rested against the steering wheel.

Louie then asked the officer, "What is your probable cause to detain me?", "Is this a criminal matter?" and "Under what authority are you detaining me?"

The officer explained that he stopped the vehicle for a "civil traffic violation" because the vehicle had no current registration.

According to police reports Louie then said, "You have no authority to do this, it is not criminal."

Two other persons then approached Louie's vehicle from a nearby residence and advised her not to speak. The officer, then with the assistance of two other officers, wrote Louie a citation for failure to obtain current registration, no valid operator's license and no registration in possession.

When police tried to give Louie the citation, One of the men who had approached the vehicle took it and placed it under the windshield wiper of one of the patrol cars.

Louie then threatened to file suit against the three officers on the scene as the man recorded the conversation with a tape recorder. The man then saw several onlookers approaching, and told them to "gather around and witness the police brutality."

The man then threatened to arrest one of the officers, requesting the two other officers to assist him. The man also wrote down the license plate numbers of the police vehicles on the scene.

When the officers finally left the scene, one of them went to the UAPD North Division Substation, 1632 E. Lester St., to complete paperwork.

The officer heard the front door buzzer buzzing repeatedly and someone banging on the door. The officer went to the door and found the same man who was at the scene requesting to speak to the on-duty commander. The officer gave the man a phone number to call and returned to his paperwork.

A few minutes later, the officer heard a loud bang on a window and requested backup from other officers. The man once again demanded to speak to a commander. Louie was also present.

At that time, a sergeant determined that there was enough probable cause to arrest Louie for failure to provide proof of identity. She was then arrested and taken to Pima County Jail.

At the jail, reports indicate Louie refused to get out of the police vehicle, saying, "I was brought here without my consent. I refuse to be booked without my consent."

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

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