During the month of May, the University of Utah Police Department responded to dozens of calls involving theft and criminal mischief. Other crimes campus police investigated included shoplifting, assault and the theft of a parking enforcement immobilizer device or “boot.”

The devil made me do it

A man was caught shoplifting two religious books from the University Bookstore. He was cited for the offense and released.

Call an ambulance…

no, make that a taxi

A City Cab driver drove a passenger to University Hospital where the passenger then failed to pay the cab fare. She checked in at the emergency room and then left before the police arrived. Her identity was ascertained from the E.R. check-in log and police plan to file charges.

Book ’em, Dano

A backpack was stolen from an open cubicle in the Heritage Center. The backpack was found in a restroom in the dining center, but a textbook was missing.

Later that week a man tried to sell the book that had recently been reported stolen from the Heritage Center back to the bookstore. The bookstore had been alerted to watch for the man, who was on a short list of suspects. When he showed up with the book, the bookstore staff called the police. The man was taken into custody, where he admitted to the theft after initially claiming that he found the book.

Will he use the junk food

defense?

A man tipped over a vending machine in the hospital. The man was located and found to have multiple warrants for his arrest. He was booked into jail on the warrants and will also be charged with damaging the vending machine.

Officer down

A parking enforcement officer reported that a man intentionally backed his car into him, striking the officer’s knee as the officer wrote out a parking ticket. The offender had already told the officer that he couldn’t write him a ticket.

Knockin’ boots

A car was “booted” by Commuter Services because of outstanding unpaid parking tickets. The owner of the car somehow managed to defeat the boot device and left the area with it. University Police were called.

A university officer called the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s office to see if a deputy could check the car owner’s home to see if the car and boot were there. The next call the university officer received was from the sheriff’s office with information that the owner and boot had been located.

When the owner resisted arrest, the sheriff’s deputy was forced to use his taser gun against him. The boot was returned to Commuter Services and charges are pending against the man who stole it.

Compiled by

Andrew Huffaker