Skateboarder Hit-and-Run in Ocean Beach

In the late afternoon of Friday, August 26, a San Diego police helicopter circled above the crowded beaches and busy Newport Avenue, apparently in search of a hit-and-run driver who struck a skateboarder.

As firefighters, paramedics, and police cruisers swarmed to the Chase Bank parking lot at the corner of Newport Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, witnesses and the victim's friend gave their statements to police.

Two mechanics who work at nearby Ozzie's Auto Repair told me they saw the whole thing go down as they worked on an engine; they agreed that "Two inebriated men were riding skateboards and throwing gang signs near the bank, when one of them was hit by a dark car that then sped off" into south Ocean Beach.

As the police chopper scoured Ocean Beach for the hit-and-run driver, the injured skateboarder was taken away by an ambulance in what one SDPD officer said was "serious condition."