Daily Archives: January 16, 2013

Tuba City Man Arrested for Multiple Counts of Aggravated Assault

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Flagstaff, AZ – Thirty-one year old Clinton Tsinnie of Tuba City, Arizona was arrested by Coconino County Sheriff’s Deputies on Sunday, January 13, 2013 for three counts of aggravated assault stemming from an incident that occurred on Friday evening.

Investigators believe that Mr. Tsinnie and the thirty-two year old male victim who know each other hitchhiked from Tuba City to Flagstaff for the purpose of taking care of some business. According to information gathered by detectives from a witness and the suspect, the suspect and the victim consumed a significant amount of alcohol after completing their business. While the two were in the area of North Highway 89 and Townsend/Wynona Road attempting to hitchhike back to Tuba City, they got into a verbal disagreement that evolved into a physical altercation. Judging from statements made by the suspect, statements made by a passing motorist witness, and from physical evidence, Detectives believe the suspect knocked the victim to the ground and kicked him in the head and face multiple times inflicting serious facial and head injuries.

Detectives believe that while the suspect was kicking the victim, the victim lost consciousness and the suspect continued to kick him. The suspect was arrested for three counts of aggravated assault involving the circumstances of the infliction of serious physical injury, the infliction of serious disfiguring injuries, and assault of the victim while he was incapacitated. The victim remains in the Flagstaff Medical Center where he is being treated for his injuries.

Overdue Hiker Rescued from San Francisco Peaks

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Flagstaff, AZ – On Saturday, January 12 at about 9:30 pm the Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an overdue hiker on the San Francisco Peaks. The hiker, a 53 year old male from Scottsdale, was reported overdue from a one day hike by his family. The initial information indicated that he was planning to hike into the Inner Basin and Lockett Meadow areas.

With the roads closed into Lockett Meadow, patrol deputies checked the bottom of the Lockett Meadow road but did not located the subject’s vehicle. Deputies checked the trailheads at Arizona Snowbowl and located the subject’s vehicle near the Kachina Trailhead. They checked the immediate area of where the vehicle was parked and did not locate the subject. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit responded.

Concern for the subject’s safety was high due to the extremely cold temperatures. At the time of the search, the air temperature in the area was -1 degree Fahrenheit, with colder wind chill temperatures. It was believed that the subject did not have any winter hiking experience and may not have been properly equipped for hiking in cold and snowy conditions.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue helicopter from Kingman, AZ responded and assisted with an aerial search. The helicopter crew used night vision goggles and a forward looking infrared camera. While the air search was being conducted, ground search teams were deployed in a Search and Rescue snow cat on Freidlein Prairie Road and on foot from the Kachina Trailhead as well as on an old jeep trail that leaves from the Arizona Snowbowl Mountain Shop.

At approximately 3:00 am a ground search team located the subject above the Kachina Trail approximately one half mile from the Kachina Trail parking area. The subject was lost and had wrapped himself in an emergency blanket and was preparing to spend the night. The subject was responsive but was very cold. Searchers assisted the subject in walking out to the trailhead where he was met by a Guardian Medical Transport ambulance for treatment and transport to the Flagstaff Medical Center.