Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Skateboards used as weapons in La Mesa, Carlsbad, La Jolla
Wheel violence in and outside the parks
Photo above by William Dorsett after a fight between skateboarders and a dog walker.
San Diego’s skate scene has long been part of the city’s coastal culture—but over the past year, a series of violent incidents, one deadly, involving skateboards and skateboarders, has raised concerns. In just the past year, two police officers were assaulted by skateboarders in separate incidents. In another case, a skateboarder was killed near a popular skate park.
Last week, a skater in Santee posted on Instagram claiming they were “chased down by skinheads” and had to board a bus and “swing skateboards at them” to get away.
On April 17, skateboarder Sean Louis Lambert, 27, was arrested after allegedly assaulting a La Mesa police officer and a bystander. According to mainstream outlets, it began when Lambert was stopped for a traffic violation near Lake Park Way and Lake Murray Boulevard. Police say Lambert attacked the officer during the stop, and a bystander who was trying to help protect the officer. When backup arrived, Lambert was arrested and booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of resisting arrest and felony assault.
This comes just over a month after 33-year-old Kyle McCord was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a violent 2023 attack on Officer Michael McKinney in Carlsbad. According to The Coast News, McKinney had pulled into a shopping center parking lot after a rock struck his patrol vehicle. While inspecting the damage, McCord approached from behind and struck the officer in the head with his skateboard before fleeing. Believing he had been shot, McKinney fired three rounds in response—but none hit the suspect. The officer was later treated for a brain bleed, skull fracture, and concussion.
Earlier this year, in January, a man was reportedly hit with a skateboard near La Jolla Shores Drive and Calle de la Garza. The incident was logged on the Citizen app, though details remain limited.
And last summer, tragedy struck by Firefighters Skate Park in Lemon Grove. Twenty-one-year-old Diego Valera was fatally shot nearby on July 13. According to Lt. Michael Krugh of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, deputies were called to the 3100 block of School Lane after reports of an argument. They found Valera suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The suspect was identified as 27-year-old Joshua Gonzalez.
Steve Smith—not his real name—has skated in most of the skate parks in San Diego County since he was six years old. I've watched him on videos posted online. "To this day, I personally have not seen any physical altercations at any skatepark here in San Diego," he said. "But I have seen the usual scuffles on street spots. I can say that most skaters respect their skateparks and avoid causing trouble of that level to avoid heat from the cops."
And since he'd been skating since he was 6, I asked if our kids are safe at these parks, besides the groms swearing. "Kids in the skateboarding community are always safe from harm," he said, and the skateboarding community is all about protecting the kids."
Those on the local Reddit forums agree with Smith regarding skateparks being safer, and agree on street spots, Balboa Park ,and the beaches—it's a different vibe.
In 2023, two younger skateboarders and a dog walker fought on video during Go Skate Day.
And on Reddit, San Diegan dwellers report run-ins with aggressive skaters, particularly along the popular boardwalk connecting Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. “I was running down by Belmont Park and a skateboarder in a red and black flannel about ran me over,” wrote user Grouchy-Many-1971. “A few minutes later, the guy came up and hit me from behind, then scurried off.”
Another Redditor described a similar encounter with a skater matching the same description. “I almost got into a fight with this guy months ago for doing the same thing,” they wrote. Other users in the thread confirmed frequent close calls and deliberate near-collisions along the beachfront path.
Smith added, "Skaters are just trying to have fun at the beach and cruise around, as well as pedestrians walking by. After all, there aren’t any 'No Skateboarding' signs at the boardwalks."
--
Here's something you might be interested in.
Skateboards used as weapons in La Mesa, Carlsbad, La Jolla
Wheel violence in and outside the parks
Skateboards used as weapons in La Mesa, Carlsbad, La Jolla
Wheel violence in and outside the parks
Photo above by William Dorsett after a fight between skateboarders and a dog walker.
San Diego’s skate scene has long been part of the city’s coastal culture—but over the past year, a series of violent incidents, one deadly, involving skateboards and skateboarders, has raised concerns. In just the past year, two police officers were assaulted by skateboarders in separate incidents. In another case, a skateboarder was killed near a popular skate park.
Last week, a skater in Santee posted on Instagram claiming they were “chased down by skinheads” and had to board a bus and “swing skateboards at them” to get away.
On April 17, skateboarder Sean Louis Lambert, 27, was arrested after allegedly assaulting a La Mesa police officer and a bystander. According to mainstream outlets, it began when Lambert was stopped for a traffic violation near Lake Park Way and Lake Murray Boulevard. Police say Lambert attacked the officer during the stop, and a bystander who was trying to help protect the officer. When backup arrived, Lambert was arrested and booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of resisting arrest and felony assault.
This comes just over a month after 33-year-old Kyle McCord was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a violent 2023 attack on Officer Michael McKinney in Carlsbad. According to The Coast News, McKinney had pulled into a shopping center parking lot after a rock struck his patrol vehicle. While inspecting the damage, McCord approached from behind and struck the officer in the head with his skateboard before fleeing. Believing he had been shot, McKinney fired three rounds in response—but none hit the suspect. The officer was later treated for a brain bleed, skull fracture, and concussion.
Earlier this year, in January, a man was reportedly hit with a skateboard near La Jolla Shores Drive and Calle de la Garza. The incident was logged on the Citizen app, though details remain limited.
And last summer, tragedy struck by Firefighters Skate Park in Lemon Grove. Twenty-one-year-old Diego Valera was fatally shot nearby on July 13. According to Lt. Michael Krugh of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, deputies were called to the 3100 block of School Lane after reports of an argument. They found Valera suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The suspect was identified as 27-year-old Joshua Gonzalez.
Steve Smith—not his real name—has skated in most of the skate parks in San Diego County since he was six years old. I've watched him on videos posted online. "To this day, I personally have not seen any physical altercations at any skatepark here in San Diego," he said. "But I have seen the usual scuffles on street spots. I can say that most skaters respect their skateparks and avoid causing trouble of that level to avoid heat from the cops."
And since he'd been skating since he was 6, I asked if our kids are safe at these parks, besides the groms swearing. "Kids in the skateboarding community are always safe from harm," he said, and the skateboarding community is all about protecting the kids."
Those on the local Reddit forums agree with Smith regarding skateparks being safer, and agree on street spots, Balboa Park ,and the beaches—it's a different vibe.
In 2023, two younger skateboarders and a dog walker fought on video during Go Skate Day.
And on Reddit, San Diegan dwellers report run-ins with aggressive skaters, particularly along the popular boardwalk connecting Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. “I was running down by Belmont Park and a skateboarder in a red and black flannel about ran me over,” wrote user Grouchy-Many-1971. “A few minutes later, the guy came up and hit me from behind, then scurried off.”
Another Redditor described a similar encounter with a skater matching the same description. “I almost got into a fight with this guy months ago for doing the same thing,” they wrote. Other users in the thread confirmed frequent close calls and deliberate near-collisions along the beachfront path.
Smith added, "Skaters are just trying to have fun at the beach and cruise around, as well as pedestrians walking by. After all, there aren’t any 'No Skateboarding' signs at the boardwalks."
--
Comments