A bit of old-school San Francisco came back to life on Tuesday when an estimated 400 skateboarders took to Dolores Street to bomb down the steep stretch between 21st and 19th Streets.
"The skateboarders were being towed up the hill by vehicles and then riding down the hill on the boards, some performing tricks on the way down," reports NBC Bay Area.
Similar to the Hill Bomb event, which happened over a year ago, scores of skaters used the street as their very own street ramp. Which is pretty cool. And dangerous. But mostly totally bitchin’.
Even Twitter cofounder Ev Williams (a passerby, presumably, and not a participant) was on hand to capture some footage of the super-sweet street moves. Check it out:
Crazy skateboarding scene at Dolores Park right now https://t.co/gUbnRGncbP
— Ev Williams (@ev) July 12, 2017
Radical, to say the least.
Alas, there were also moments of despair. First, Thrasher magazine editor Jake Phelps took a brutal tumble during his bombing of Dolores. He’s on the mend, but—oof, ouch. That had to hurt. Brace:
#BREAKING: Skateboarders take over #DoloresPark in SF. #SFPD stands down. Several injuries. pic.twitter.com/r6T5n7onrG
— Raj Mathai (@rajmathai) July 12, 2017
And then, a skater slammed into a police car and spilled onto the pavement after a police officer checked him. According to SFist, “witness reports suggested a police officer extended his left arm to collide with a skateboarder.”
Behold:
The injured skater, @anthiiny, posted the following to Instagram after his crash: “As far as I know my ankle is broken and I have a torn tendon in my knee and some sprained fingers lol...waiting [to hear] back for results of my MRIs and CT scans to finalize some operation decisions, but I really appreciate all the love.”
The incident is currently under investigation.
Soon, the day of merriment turned fraught as police confronted the onlookers, who in turn raced into the park. NBC Bay Area reports: “A large fight broke out at some point, with multiple officers involved, so SFPD tried to clear the park, police said. For more than an hour, skaters shouted and threw objects such as bottles.”
Nine squad cars just raced into the mass of people so they're racing into the park pic.twitter.com/Ybv4ZTMUi5
— Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) July 12, 2017
Never one to fear the fuzz, the skateboarders, always a tenacious and resourceful lot, cleared the sidewalk along Dolores to ride again.
Delightful.
- Ugly Dolores Park Confrontation Between Police, Skateboarders Ends In Multiple Injuries [SFist]
- Skateboarders, police clash at Dolores Park in San Francisco [KTVU]
- Skateboarders' Street Rally Turns Into Lengthy Standoff With SF Police [NBC Bay Area]
- Police ramp up investigation of skateboarding clash at Dolores Park [ABC 7]