When Tor Keeslar and his partner walked up Dolores Street, heading to their home at the corner of the park, they noticed throngs of young teens chattering excitedly, gripping their skateboards and peering at the police who had preemptively blocked off the road.
“Yo, this is going to be so lit,” one of the kids remarked within Keeslar’s earshot.
Keeslar and his partner, Sergio Costantini, were well aware of what was going on. At least, they thought they were.
“We’ve seen the hill bomb, we’ve seen skaters go up and down these streets countless times,” Keeslar said. Living where Dolores meets 18th Street, Keeslar and Costantini “have never had a problem” watching the skaters fly by on their boards.
But when the event took a turn for the worse on Saturday night, they were speechless. What started as a tradition — skaters gathering to speed down the steep hills around Dolores Park — ended in chaos. “It looked like shit was gonna hit the fan,” Constantini said as he recounted watching police clash with the skaters. “Like, you just don’t want to get anywhere near that.”
While the residents who live near the park are accustomed to the event, all agreed that this one was bigger, the crowd younger. Moreover, they said, the tipping point for police may have been the actions of teens who aimed firecrackers and glass bottles at officers, according to residents.
Marek Hadlaw, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, was driving home from Noe Valley when the incident transpired. Turning the corner onto Dolores, towards his house at the southern apex of the park, Hadlaw “saw everything and thought, ‘What in blazed Hell is this?’” He said that it was a crazy sight, just as impossible to explain as it was to understand.
Having lived in the area for 13 years, Hadlaw was well aware of the antics enjoyed by local skaters during the annual hill bomb event. He noticed, earlier in the day, the barricades and deterrents placed on the road: speed bumps and textured slats to slow down skateboards. He viewed them as preemptive measures by officials who anticipated an event that’s known for its intense speed and a shortage of protective gear.
But Hadlaw wasn’t prepared to see what came next. “It was crazy; I don’t know how to explain it. The reaction from the police was clearly disproportionate to the problem. They probably had half of the SFPD posted out there.”
In all, there were more than 100 officers, several of them riding motorcycles, four vans and four buses to transport the 117 individuals arrested by late Sunday morning.
SFPD cited the group — 83 of them juveniles — with rioting, unlawful assembly, and conspiracy; a handful faced additional charges. The police had encircled a group of skaters and spectators in order to arrest them, sweeping up several who were simply passing by, according to those arrested.
Hadlaw wasn’t sure why the police were present in such large numbers to begin with. Like his neighbor, Annie Chang, he guessed it was due to injuries during the hill bombs of years past.
“I think it’s because someone died a few years ago,” Chang said as she shrugged, winding her dog’s leash around her wrist. She peered out into the open park, at the calm scene of families enjoying their Sunday, a radical departure from Saturday evening and Sunday morning. “Whatever it is, I think it was a waste of money on the police’s part.”
Chang and Hadlaw are correct about past hill bomb incidents — in 2020, a cyclist was killed in a hill-bomb collision. The streets are steep, with recently added speed bumps.
Arthur Stewart, another neighbor on Dolores Street, couldn’t participate in this year’s hill bomb because of a recent injury while skating down Dolores, but he was present to watch Saturday’s hill bomb, and the violence that ensued. “It looked like there were a lot of young ‘uns. The veterans know better than to clash with the police,” he explained, noting that the overall demographic was much younger this time as opposed to previous years.
Jeremy, a longtime resident on Dolores Street, also noticed the shift in demographics. Watching the hill bomb from start to finish, he observed that “the police were just hanging around, chatting, relaxed. Then the skaters started shooting fireworks and glass bottles at them.”
Despite being in favor of the skaters, Jeremy added that one of the fireworks nearly exploded into his window. This is not uncommon for Dolores Park’s neighbors; property damage is an unfortunate but recurring result of the hill bomb, they said.
Conan McHugh, a Dolores Park ambassador and resident, said that “this year, unlike the previous, I sustained no property damage.” He added that while the SFPD could have improved their approach, he still believes that their response was warranted.
Jeremy was also surprised at the actions of the skaters. “I’m by no means a police apologist,” said the self-proclaimed anti-police activist, “but from what I could see, they were very chill and calm — that is, until the skaters began to hit the metal barriers with their boards and shoot fireworks at them.”
Stewart also noticed such behavior. “As these skaters get older, they will learn not to say ‘Fuck you’ to the police. I was the same way when I was younger, but luckily I didn’t have to learn my lesson the hard way.”
Regardless of the skaters’ actions, some neighbors insisted SFPD was unjustified. “I think it was an overreaction from the police,” Hadlaw said. “What’s crazy to me is that there are motocross riders turning Dolores Park into their own personal obstacle course,” he continued, referring to the motorcyclists who speed over streets, grass and dirt throughout the immediate area.
“They don’t wear helmets, they don’t even have license plates, and the cops have never done a single thing about it.”
However, some locals feel that the real issue is not with the skating itself, but with the insubordination of the adolescents. “If they shot at the police, then they deserved their arrests,” said Paul, a local who works in the non-profit news sector.
Jeremy imagined the reaction on Saturday might bring an end to the event.
McHugh disagreed. “Those concerned parents are invited to work with their kids and the city to make an officially sanctioned Hill Bomb event, just like the many other events we gladly close down portions of our neighborhood to host,” he wrote in an email.
“Expression, fun, and organized chaos is welcome here; solely chaos is not.”
This story has been updated to reflect that 117 were arrested that day, not 113.
This neighborhood (and the entire city) needs to be able to serve multiple users. If the event were organized and neighborhood notified, I would be more supportive. The previous year I could not cross Dolores to return to my home because of the skateboarders. Finally after 20 minutes (and the crowd of pedestrians trying to cross the street grew to 15-20) one participant stepped in to help us. That is not appropriate or fair to those of us who live in the neighborhood. I don’t want to be injured just trying to cross the street to get to my home. Perhaps the police went to far…but no one (including teens with articulate and well-to-do parents) have the right to assault the police or disturb the peace. Learning that lesson is important. Let’s not confuse inappropriate and dangerous behaviors with civil disobedience. Frankly, I don’t think the police department should have simply revoked the vast majority of the arrests. There’s a lot of entitlement at play here.
Living in the area I have witnessed the unruly behaviors of the crowd. Throwing bottles, cans and shooting fireworks at the police are serious offenses and unacceptable behavior. Destruction of public and private is also unacceptable. The police made mass arrests after an hour of telling the crowd to disperse. Mass arrests saved further harm to police, people in the crowd and property. It seems the police are dammed by taking action or not taking action. I believe the police took the proper action and hope it has future acts of civil disobedience.
“SFPD charged the group — 81 of them juveniles — with rioting, failure to disperse, and conspiracy. ”
These cases will mostly be dropped and the rest reduced to a ticket or something.
It appears that teenagers and police officers both lack judgement and restraint. Who’d of thought?
By witness account from those without bias, the non neighborhood skateboarders got flustered due to police presence.
Oh please. The angelic skateboarders were inciting a riot. Finally there’s police response and most are aghast. And, yes, we need more heavy police response in many other situations. Why we can’t have nice things.
So if you shoot at police you then possibly deserve to be arrested…when does attempted murder become the low bar for arrest…..this is the issue with the city…soft minded individuals who do not think through their reasoning.
Shooting fireworks at someone isn’t exactly attempted murder, let’s not get too dramatic, or someone will accuse you of being soft minded! A slippery slope argument is the laziest form of argument- no one is suggesting that you can get away with shooting fireworks at the cops, but scooping up kids willy nilly does nothing but ensure that they’ll all hate the SFPD going forward.
And if anyone of those out of neighborhood skateboarders were hurt or to have perished, would those family members and those who advocate such illegal activities cry foul. My opinion says, yes, and hell yes they would sue the city for not protecting these innocent skateboarders from taking on illegal activities.
Teenagers are gonna teenage, but that doesn’t mean there will not be consequences. I think that is what the people who are b*tching about being arrested seem not to understand. F*ck around and find out. Lots of people don’t like the “find out” part.
As a long time resident of this beautiful and hística neighborhood, I am appalled by the Hill Bomb event. It is dangerous, horrendously loud and environmentally destructive. Last year, the police did nothing. This year they may have overreacted. The coomunity needs to figure out a way to give young people space to play. San Francisco is dying of paralysis. There needs to be a way to balance the needs of all its residents.