Dolores Park Hill Bomb proceeds despite police presence

Though SFPD pulled out all the stops to prevent the event, hosting a press conference a day prior and stationing officers around the park hours beforehand, they proved markedly more restrained than last year. 

When skaters finally dared to bomb away Saturday evening in front of a couple-hundred onlookers, scores of cops simply looked on. Some snapped pictures.

Compared to the chaos of the hill bomb in 2023—when cops kettled riotous crowds and arrested people en masse—it started out as a kinder, gentler hill bomb. 

For some of the skaters, the show of restraint softened their view of authorities. 

“It was, “Fuck the city,’” Urbieta told The Standard. “We’re loving the city now—but I don’t know how long it will last.”

A few minutes later, he fell at the bottom of the hill, writhing in pain on the ground as bystanders and volunteer medics rushed to help.

“I’m good, I’m good I’m good I promise,” he said. “It happens. It’s a part of this life.” 

When a nurse advised Urbieta not to skate the hill again, he responded, “Do you not know how skaters operate?”

Moments later he was speeding down the hill again. 

Not everyone was so lucky.

As the sun began to set, a skateboarder fell into a curb at the bottom of the hill, rolling multiple times and hitting his head. A hushed silence fell over the crowd of a couple hundred onlookers. Then, as paramedics carried him away on a stretcher, the skater threw his arms, prompting raucous cheers.