Skateboarder alleges excessive force in Pier arrest
by Garth Meyer A young skateboarder at the new Redondo Beach Pier skate park the night of April 21 alleges that a police officer “stomped” on his board as he skated by, causing him to fly into the air and hit a fire hydrant with his back – before being arrested for skateboarding on the Pier, resisting arrest and obstruction of an officer. A bystander’s video shows the moments surrounding the incident. Arrested was a 19-year-old male, booked into the Redondo Beach jail for two hours before he was released on his own recognizance to his mother. “I was just trying to leave the area (after police arrived)” said the suspect. “I believe what happened to me can definitely qualify as excessive force.” The arrest was the first of three unnerving interactions with police that night, he said. The video, filmed by another skateboarder, shows a group of about 12 officers herd boarders out of the skate park just after 9 p.m. Police were called to the site for a “disturbance.” Leaving in a crowd of about 20 skateboarders, the suspect skated toward the Pier parking garage by Quality Seafoods – where he and his girlfriend had parked her car – when the suspect encountered an officer. “He had his…
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