SAN FRANCISCO—Dean Taylor, a former police officer that served with the San Francisco Police Department for 34 years, is facing 11 years in prison for death threats and other charges against juveniles.
On Friday, February 12 an 11-year-old boy and his friends were in Taylor’s San Rafael neighborhood playing ding-dong-ditch. Taylor confronted the children after he told police officers that the juveniles had rang his doorbell four times. The boy and his friends admitted to ringing doorbells throughout the neighborhood. When they ran from Taylor’s house, he proceeded to chase them down with his car.
Taylor caught up with one boy, grabbed him by the neck, and forced him into the car. Taylor dropped the boy off in the area of Point San Pedro and Loch Lomond Drive in San Rafael and left him to run home. A person flagged the San Rafael police down and said her son was with a group of boys that had been ringing doorbells and said that one of her son’s friends had been chased by a man who lived in the area.
The SRPD also received a call from the father of the juvenile male stating that his son, who had since returned home, had been victimized by Taylor. Police said Taylor admitted to chasing the boys but denied threatening the boy or grabbing him by the neck. An SRPD officer interviewed the 11-year-old boy and the boy admitted to ringing doorbells with his friends. The police also noticed that the child’s neck was noticeably red.
About 10:10 p.m. SRPD officers went to Taylor’s house and arrested him. Taylor spent a night in the Marin County Jail before he was released on $100,000 bond. Taylor’s attorney, Anthony Brass, said that Taylor was trying to recover from a painful surgery at the time. The Marin County District Attorney’s office filed charges of kidnapping, criminal threats, false imprisonment, battery, and child endangerment.
