Transit Police have been racking up arrests at Andrew station lately after they said they’ve received citizen complaints about drug and other illegal activity at the Red Line stop.
Sunday’s arrest of a gun-carrying Chelsea man who allegedly evaded his fare by walking through a broken gate in front of police was the latest example.
Hamilton Rodriguez, 20, was arrested Sunday afternoon.
When officers asked for his identification, he ran but the officers were able to grab his shirt and eventually get his hands cuffed after a brief struggle.
Officers found a loaded pistol in Rodriguez’s front pocket, according to a police report.
He was ordered held without bail yesterday because of a pending drug case.
“With drugs come firearms and our officers know that,” said Transit Police Deputy Chief Joseph O’Connor.
The police report also said that Andrew station is “known to be used as a meeting place for drug activity.”
A half dozen people have been arrested for being in possession of various drugs while at the station over a span of five days at the end of last month.
Drug offenses were up slightly across the T last year over 2009. There were 158 drug arrests last year, according to T crime data. That number was higher than in 2009 when 112 arrests were made. Those crimes make up about 2 or 3 percent of the T’s total crime.
O’Connor said the officers were conducting routine fare evasion patrol at the station when they arrested Rodriguez, but that experience showed they would likely come upon people who committed other crimes.
“Quite often doing these types of fare evasion or smoking stops leads to individuals who are wanted on warrants,” he said.
