S.F. police describe chaos at skateboard event, face questions
San Francisco police officials on Sunday defended their large-scale response to the annual Dolores Hill Bomb skateboarding event in which more than 100 people were arrested or cited, saying participants’ actions included assaulting officers, setting off illegal fireworks and trashing Muni trains.
Some political leaders suggested that the police response was heavy handed and may have exacerbated the situation.
“This dangerous and unlawful behavior put members of the public and our officers at risk of serious injury or worse,” Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement Sunday. “This behavior will not be tolerated in our city and I thank our officers for taking action to hold those accountable who brazenly engaged in reckless and dangerous behavior and violated the law. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries.”
Thirty-two adults were arrested and booked at San Francisco County Jail on allegations including inciting a riot. In addition, 81 juveniles were cited and released on suspicion of inciting a riot. Police say they seized guns, illegal fireworks and narcotics during arrests. One officer suffered face lacerations and had to be transported to the hospital for treatment.
In previous years, the Dolores Street Hill Bomb resulted in a fatality and serious injury. Last year’s event had a sideshow and a stabbing. In 2019, renowned local skater Toimoko Oikawa, fell and suffered a severe brain injury requiring surgery.
“I’m relieved that there wasn’t the same level of injury and destruction and even death as in prior years,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the vicinity of 17th and Dolores streets, near where the altercations took place, a block from Dolores Park.
“This is a very problematic event that has negative impacts on the neighborhoods around Dolores Park and has been associated with violence and property damage.”
Mandelman said there had been many neighborhood meetings before the event, and though containment was an improvement over last year’s fracas, he suspects the best way to handle it is to stop it before it starts, as the city has done with Halloween in the Castro district.
“Just say ‘It is not going to happen,’ ” Mandelman said. “I do think more will be done to stop it next year.”
Supervisor Dean Preston called the police response excessive.
“Last night scores of police officers were deployed to Dolores Street to disrupt an annual skateboarding tradition,” he tweeted, “Armed in riot gear, they issued dispersal orders, threatened tear gas, and then arrested, ziptied, and detained many children for hours.”
Reached by text message, Preston said he was not present at the event but based his comments on “reliable sources” who were filming it and providing updates. He also said there had been no special alert or situation report provided to the Board of Supervisors by police, “which is unusual for an incident involving large scale police deployment.” The first official notification was a news release sent 12 hours later, he said.
Board President Aaron Peskin had no comment, stating that he had not yet been briefed on the incident. Also offering no comment was the manager of Dolores Park Cafe, though she did allow that “there were obvious signs that they were near the cafe based on the outside of the building,” possibly meaning graffiti.
The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club put out its own news release, stating that it “is outraged by the large scale show of force by police in military gear against teenagers at Dolores Park, which led to the arrest and mistreatment of 81 juveniles and 32 adults,” it read, continuing to call it “excessive, disproportionate, and resulted in one of the most violent police actions in recent memory involving riot gear, batons, rifles, and the drawing of guns.”
This was backed by a tweet from a San Francisco parent who said, “My son was one of the kids and he wasn’t even at the hillbomb. Wrong place and time and he is traumatized, He is a straight A 15 year and volunteers at the Tenderloin rec center. He was zip tied and arrested in jail until 3:30 am, the cops never notified us and took his phone.”
San Francisco police, in a news release Sunday, said they worked with other city agencies to stop the “unpermitted and non-sanctioned” event. When it became clear that the event would proceed, with or without city permission, a barricade was put up on Dolores Street and extra officers were called in from Mission Station, police said.
South of Market resident Alexis Oakland was walking at Dolores Park with her husband and some friends Saturday afternoon when she saw police setting up with a show of force so strong she assumed it was a major sting or drug bust. She counted four police vans and 60 to 80 officers in riot gear, with helmets and face shields, carrying billy clubs.
“Then, around 6pm we realized it was all just for a bunch of mostly teenage skateboarders to bomb the hill, which the cops had mostly blocked already,” she said in an email. “I even asked one of the cops when we left around 7pm ‘is this just for the skateboarders? and he answered ‘yup.’ ‘
This surprised Oakland because she lives off Sixth Street, where she witnesses drug dealing and overdoses.
‘We watch Fentanyl deaths happen monthly if not more,’ she said. ‘We’ve never seen a police presence like that at any of the open air drug markets right by us.’
According to a timeline issued by police Sunday, the event began around 6:15 p.m. Saturday, when a large group of skateboarders had gathered at the park while others gathered on the outskirts of the park. Officers said they saw fireworks being set off at Cumberland and Dolores streets, adding that they helped residents into their homes.
At 7:10 p.m., an officer assisting residents at Cumberland and Dolores streets was approached by a man who spat in his face, according to the report. The officer, a sergeant, tried to arrest the man but a woman interfered, attempting to delay the arrest, police said.
The sergeant suffered lacerations and was transported to a hospital, police said, and his condition was unknown Sunday afternoon. Officers eventually detained the suspects, who they said were a girl, 15, and a boy, 16.
The boy was transported to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury before being transferred to the Juvenile Justice Center. “During this arrest the crowd began to throw ignited fireworks, smoke bombs, glass bottles and metal cans at officers which struck them,” authorities said.
At 7:15 p.m., police began verbal announcements to the crowd, which they said “had turned violent,” to disperse the area due to unlawful assembly. During this point, police said, people continued to light fireworks in the park, starting blazes that San Francisco firefighters extinguished. Around 7:35 p.m. police responded to reports of gunshots at 18th and Church streets near an occupied Muni light rail vehicle, police said.
Officers said they arrived at the scene to find the train vehicle being vandalized as well as several people who had climbed on top of the vehicle who were at risk of falling or touching the electrical equipment above the train. A second occupied Muni vehicle was vandalized at 17th and Church streets, police said.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority could not be reached for comment but photos posted to social media showed people standing atop a J-Church streetcar while another was covered in fresh graffiti. Also vandalized was a palm tree on Dolores Street, which was set ablaze, possibly by fireworks and required an engine from the San Francisco Fire department to extinguish it, a police spokesperson said.
Despite further attempts to disperse the crowd, the group remained in the area around the park, including some of whom who were still igniting fireworks and vandalizing property, according to officers.
Police said they decided to escalate their enforcement after a crowd they estimated at 200 began removing the barricades set up by officers. The crowd did not comply with dispersal orders, police said. Around that time, a group of people allegedly stopped a third Muni vehicle and began vandalizing it.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. officers followed the group to 17th street and contained the crowd between Dolores and Guerrero streets. Officers then “decided that a mass arrest of the crowd was to be conducted to stop the ongoing unlawful assembly and destruction of property,” Scott said.
The investigation remains open. Anyone with information is asked to call the SFPD 24-hour tip line at 1-415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
