Police Helicopter Helps Nab 2 Men Stealing Copper From School - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

Police arrested two men in the act of stealing copper from an air conditioning unit on the roof of a Tulsa elementary school Wednesday morning.

Police say it happened just after midnight at Jackson Elementary School at 2731 North Pittsburg.

An alarm sent the Tulsa Police Department's helicopter and officers to the school.

The chopper arrived first and police say it spotted Athen Phifer, 35, and Juan Galaviz, 24, on the roof.

Both men jumped off the roof and tried to run away but officers on the ground caught up with them.

Tulsa Police say Phifer and Galaviz were trying to strip copper from the air conditioning unit when they set off an alarm.

"Fortunately for us we were able to come around the corner about the time they were jumping off and we were able to take both suspects into custody. We're looking at probably about a 15 foot jump is what it looks like over there so they jumped off the roof and from what I could tell as we took these individuals into custody that neither one of them were hurt," said Tulsa Police Cpl. Jeff Little.

Officers arrested Phifer and Galaviz and booked them into the Tulsa County jail on complaints of larceny and possession of copper. Bond was set at $2,000 each.

Corporal Little says even though both men were arrested and the copper recovered, Tulsa Public Schools will have to pay to fix the damaged air conditioning unit.