Man Gets Arrested to Evade Gang

A 45-year-old transient who was seeking protection after double-crossing a gang member in a small drug transaction walked into the Rampart police station, pulled out a glass pipe and apparently began smoking crack cocaine before he was arrested, a Rampart station desk officer said.

By the time officers arrested him there was no cocaine left in the pipe, so Alvin Taylor was booked Thursday night for possession of narcotics paraphernalia, authorities said. “He was afraid a gang member would kill him if he stayed on the streets much longer,” said Loren Gilsig, a desk officer at the Rampart station. “He was a small-time dope dealer who didn’t want to end up a homicide.”

It had been reported earlier that the man was homeless and wanted to be arrested to get out of the rain.