In a strange twist of fate, Patrolman Alvin C. Gillem was killed by an intoxicated driver he had arrested a year earlier.

On April 12, 1917, Gillem was off-duty and returning from an afternoon at the circus with his family. He had placed his wife and three children aboard a streetcar for the ride home, and was waiting at the corner of 60th and San Pablo for a streetcar to take him to work at Northern Station.

A speeding car veered out of control and struck Gillem as he stood on the curb. He was killed instantly. Patrolman Thomas Pardee who was walking in the area immediately took the driver into custody.

The driver had been arrested a year earlier by Gillem for speeding and drunk driving. He was acquitted of the offense.

Gillem was a six-year veteran of the Oakland Police Department.