City man with lengthy rap sheet arrested at gunpoint after ordeal
WOONSOCKET – A city man wanted by authorities in nearby Massachusetts for selling cocaine was arrested at gunpoint Wednesday after allegedly attempting to elude police.
Gabriel Alvarez, 26, of 266 First Ave., was arrested on charges of being a fugitive from justice in Franklin and obstructing police. He's also wanted on a Superior Court warrant for felony assault and an East Providence police warrant for simple assault, according to reports.
Officer Michael Martinsen said he was on routine patrol about 1 p.m. when he noticed someone sitting in a gold Honda he recognized as Alvarez's vehicle, idling in front of his apartment on First Avenue. Martinsen said he asked the man in the passenger seat where Alvarez was and the occupant told him he was expected to show up any minute.
Moments later, Martinsen said he saw Alvarez approaching him on foot. When Alvarez noticed the policeman, he allegedly ran back toward his apartment, went inside and locked the door behind him.
On Martinsen's call for backup, about a half-dozen additional police officers arrived to take Alvarez into custody. A one point, they noticed Alvarez peering out at the officers from the window of his apartment on the second floor. Officers managed to gain entry to the building after making contact with another tenant on the first floor, but when they reached the door of Alvarez's upstairs unit, he refused to open it.
Martinsen said he forced the door open with a single kick and entered the residence with his sidearm drawn. Alvarez surrendered moments later, telling police he ran because he was scared and “thought I had a warrant.”
According to the judiciary's web site, Alvarez pleaded no contest to the obstructing charge in Sixth District Court Thursday and resolved the matter by promising to pay about $96 in court fees. He also placed on probation for a year.
Records also indicate that $50,000 in property bond was posted on his behalf pending a fugitive hearing on Dec. 18.
He was also presented as a violator of his sentence on an unrelated matter – a 2015 conviction for domestic strangulation for which he's on probation until January 2021. A hearing on that issue, which carries the possibility of jail time, was scheduled for yesterday afternoon.