Officers arrested a man in the University District Tuesday evening after they stepped away from their patrol car for a few minutes to go on a foot patrol, and later returned to find the man peeing on their car door.
Around 4:45 pm. the officers parked their patrol car in a lot at 47th and University Way, got out and went on a “directed patrol,” intended to increase officers’ visibility in their beats and reduce street crime.
Officers walked through the University District on foot and circled back to their vehicle, stepping out of an alleyway into the parking lot, just in time to catch the man mid-stream.
Officers saw the man and the man saw the officers, who told the suspect to zip up his pants and put his hands on a nearby wall so officers could pat him down.
There were no other cars parked in the lot at the time.
As officers were talking to the man, a crowd of people gathered around them in the parking lot. Out of concern for their own safety, the officers took the suspect to the North Precinct, cited him for public urination, and released him.