Cortaro Farms and Thornydale Roads, Sept. 3, 5:05 a.m.
At least two men took a full-sized road grader for a joyride, a Pima County Sheriff's Department report said.
A man phoned authorities to say he had heard at least two males shouting and screaming, and then heard an engine start up on a piece of construction equipment just north of his dwelling. He said he saw a road grader traveling southbound on his street with at least two men in it.
The man called back a short time later and said that the grader was seen leaving his neighborhood. This prompted sheriffs to assign several deputies to hunt down the grader, due to its size.
Eventually, a deputy spotted the 20-year-old grader, valued at $25,000, in the desert. Its owner was contacted, and he noted some damage to the blade underneath the equipment, probably because it kept hitting the ground as the men drove it.
There were no suspects at the time of the report.
Tall Tale?
Unincorporated Pima County, Sept. 1, 10:34 p.m.
A man phoned authorities after overhearing someone talking about assaulting a police officer, a PCSD report stated.
The man told a deputy that he overheard another man saying that he had rammed a police vehicle with his car, and then beat the officer with a baseball bat. The man who was talking about this was at a convenience store, trying to get assistance with his gray minivan, which had "severe front-end damage," the reportee said.
The caller also reported seeing the man sporting a bat that appeared to have blood on it.
The report said that earlier in the day, another PCSD district office had received a similar call that turned out to be unfounded.
A deputy went to the convenience store and took a look inside the van, where a pipe used for smoking drugs was allegedly visible. The end of a bat that was tucked underneath the dash was also visible, the report said. Several of the van's windows were broken out.
Upon inspection, the bat didn't appear to have any blood or hair on it, the deputy noted.
According to the report, the van's owner was contacted, and it appeared that he had hit "some vehicles" in a parking lot two months prior, as well as a stop sign some time after that.
There was no further information at the time of the report.
