Skateboarding illegal in Milton Florida skatepark
A Milton Florida park monitor called the police because a guy dropped in on one of the park obstacles. It was essentially a quarterpipe with some vert. The monitor took issue because the guy climbed up and dropped in. It’s ok to ride it, but not to climb up on it in order to do so. Samuel Atchison was suspended for 30 days for skating in a skatepark. It sounds ridiculous, but he did absolutely nothing wrong. You have to see it to believe it.
– Thanks to Concretins for the tip.
Officer Yolanda must subscribe to the biblical interpretation of the word “trespass.” I’ve never heard anyone say “I’m trespassing you from this skatepark.” I know it’s easy for me to say, but if it wasn’t almost 8 hours away, I would be in the car on my way to drop in on that extension right now. It’s an absurd form of civil disobedience, and I suggest anyone within a reasonable radius of Milton should go do just that.
This whole situation should be really embarrassing for the city of Milton, but I suspect they are so bass-ackwards that they still don’t see it.
UPDATE: PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU LEAVE A COMMENT. So apparently, the guy dropping in was told not to do it by the park security guard, but he did it anyway. The video was edited to make it appear like an unsuspecting skater was being harassed without provocation. While it is still incredibly lame to dictate which way someone can skate on a functioning part of a skatepark, and that issue should be addressed, it is beyond lame to make yourself look like a martyr and have a community rally behind you under false pretense. Way to go D-bag.
wow is that al sharpton?
thank god i live in OREGON!
Holy crap this is lame. Pure power trip by the “park monitor for a park that’s not supposed to be monitored”.
As ludicrous as it sounds, the guy didn’t even bother with a warning? Just singled the guy out for using the public skatepark for it’s intended purpose. Awesome.
I love how they illustrate the flaw in the logic that “if it doesn’t have steps then you can’t climb on it” when applied to the rest of the park.
If the city is so afraid of people hurting themselves on one part of the park then why was it ever built in the first place? Lack of common sense or lack of understanding of what skateboarding is? I’m thinking a LOT of both…
I hope this guy goes back to the park and gets cited so he can take it to court and expose just how insanely stupid the situation is.
Whoa, I wonder what they’d do if you slam dunk on a b-ball court.
Sick drop in, why would some random guy call the police? Asshole.
the guy was not random, he was refered to as the “ruler” of the park by the cop. he was just waiting for someone to ‘screw up” in his mind so he could unleash some pent up frustration. too bad for him he does not skate of something fun in life. the cop’s best quote was “i don’t care where the rule is down, this is the city of Milton”.
the skaters kept it mellow. props to them for keeping their heads. I was expecting a little violence
I lol’d listening to the female cop trying to rationalize her decision.
“Yew gadda skaytebooord up,” she says. holy shit. this would be funny if it wasn’t so lame. “I’m trespassing you from this park…” absurd bummer.
what if you were not allowed to hit a home run at the local baseball field…it’s that stupid. Makes me mad.
What a waste of time and tax money!
Ruler of public skatepark=random asshole. 9 times out of 10 anyways.
So what if he had rode up it and gone to tail?
I’d fight it. I’d say that this could be a denial of due process. Cops can’t just make up rules on the fly. Also, the rule, if it exists, is vague and ambiguous.
I feel sorry for u guys in the US
over here in europe a public skatepark
is mostly the best spot for
15 year olds to light up a fire while getting pissed with vodka redbull thrashing the whole place with glass and so on
no one absolutly no one is supervising or even caring about skateparks besides the skaters
a four year old could kill himself while dropping in on a half torn down vert ramp …. the only thing that this kind of shit doesnt happen is even a four year old has a brain and a healthy fear to keep him away from getting smashed…
this freedom is sometimes a little hard but with a healthy skatescene no problem
I dont get the point why are there no semi or real mellow attidude guys in ur goverment or city halls?
it seems like in the US the only choice u have is either cowboys (jr ewing ) super die hard christians (BUSHwickbill) or mostly Actors (terminator)
where is the oposition?
did they all freak out at the last great full dead show or what?
I m so scared to go other to ur country
I would get locked up for so many reasons without even having a clue that I do something wrong
and then I would be loud
would fucking say something back ,
wouldn t be heplfull while getting arested
and then would get shot in the face only because I was crossing the street while riding my skateboard with a beer in my hand and a purepipe in my pocket ….
last time I ve been over was in 98 that was before the concrete craze in oregon
I want to shred all that parks but I am scared
not of the deep end but of me
disrespecting the authoritys!
peace
if dropping in is outlawed only the outlaws will be dropping in. Keep skateboarding illegal.
whats wrong with Florida? long live oregon
I was waiting for this to turn into porn. Where is the porn in the whole thing. I am pretty sure that lady would own slaves if it were legal.
If that guy is the park ruler. I wonder why he is so jealous of drop-ins? The locals must be pretty sucky if he is the ruler. Maybe I could move there and be the new ruler I will rock and roll that bitch, and I will be the ruler…
danslash, I’m affraid to leave the US cos I’m worried they won’t let me back in. and I would have been insulting to the cop and the “ruler”. maybe even violent, and I’m a peacefull guy. the skaters made this story stand out by being mellow and intelegent about the whole thing. they gave the cop and the guy with the chip on his sholder all the room they needed to make fools of themselves.
personaly I have never seen a park “monitor” (guess I’m lucky). if that is a paying job where do I turn in my aplication?
i bet if daddyo was here he would totally agree with the cops
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. *whew*
Lets let them know what we think. Cut and past these email addresses and send them an email. I think the more reasonable we are the more they have to respond positively.
Mayor Guy Thompson
Interim City Manager Brian Watkins
mayorg75@aol.com
citymanager@mymiltonflorida.com
police@mymiltonflorida.com
parks@mymiltonflorida.com
i kinda miss daddy yo… but it’s warming up and we all have better things to do (skating), but come on, it would be hard for even him to side with the cops on this one
hey danslash, i totally know what are you saying when you think you would get in the trouble after entering this cuntry without even knowing it.
i got kicked out of three venues during my first night ever in portland. i just didnt realize that smoking joints with homeless dude in front of the bar is a problem or that a “all age punk show” means total bullshit where you can… i guess stand around? oh and then my wife puked under the table and generally all of us were kinda too much so that i might understand, but seriously, people, this is not a land of freedom and this florida story just confirms it.
I agree with Will Curtis. I would like to hear DaddyYo’s two cents on this story.
you should have been like excuse me tj hooker what about this shtuff what happens if your board gets stuck in a rock and roll and you want to get your board back wtf a fucking cunt is what that bitch is i am trespassing you from this park does that mean he tresspased by being on top of the ramp is it private property this enough would make me want to leave that fucking hell hole
MommaNo had it right on:
if dropping in is outlawed only the outlaws will be dropping in. Keep skateboarding illegal.
I know everyone misses DaddyYo, but he’s been trespassed for not ramping up this site.
Win!
I don’t miss daddyYo. I stopped coming here when it was around because I don’t need the aggravation. Trying to deal with its shit on SPS was too much, at this point I don’t care what it thinks.
Danslash,
You pussy, get your ass over here and skate! I feel sorry for you because you’re such a pussy you’re affraid to come over to this (marek it’s spelled) COUNTRY and skate.
Marek,
YOU are trouble. You’ve been trespassed from Klamath Falls, and have stinky feet that would make a wild boar PUKE.
yeah, i was trespassed from klamath park and banned for thirty days. yet another reason not to go to that redneck piece of shit town. who would go there? oh yeah, you just spent your weekend over there, didnt you?
thanks ssk, for the email adresses. I tried to be nice in my letter to the city etc. I asked them in my kindest words not to susspend the police officer for being put into that situation that she did not need to be in. I also let them know what fine upstanding young men they have in Milton for not letting a unjust situation get out of hand. I condemed the “park ruler” for distracting the police from doing their job elsewhere
I will of course I will come over
I have no choice if I want to skate all that parks
but you calling me a pussy is exactly whats going on
america kind of was the root of all hardcore and loose lifestyle ( thats at least what u make everbody think if u watch all the documentarys..as if england germany brasil holland scandinavia had no glue how to live wild and free with their skatebrds!)
but in the end most of it is fake
dressed and inked like a nomad from mad max
but in the house sporting the super conserativ family pics with the cheese smile and the mean patriotic army look I would say thats super punk
of course the only pics u have on your shelf
is the misfits skull and the budwiser cariage…
anyway
curtis yeah I m also stoked that those guys where so calm and polite
I am not a aggro guys aswell but threatend like that I would have been loud or just laughing because my path would not lead me to the park again
hopefully the next 1000 sessions will be without any
park ruler besides the one that rules it with style
and independent trucks
but ofcorse if the skaters smacked the “ruler” with their boards, I’d stll be on their side.
Danslash,
Your not a pussy. I just say rude, senseless, combative, annoying things to get your attention.
About being fake, I see so many kids and some grown men who carry their board under there arm like it was some PURSE. I thought skateboarding was faster than walking but I guess one might get tired skating up a hill but I see it all the time holding there board while walking down a sidewalk.
fucking people need to be lynched
When you fall in a bowl you’re supposed to ramp back and forth until you get enough speed to ramp out. Anyone caught climbing out of the bowl will be trespassed. Skateparks will be so awesome now. Everyone loves waiting for some asshole to ramp his way out of the bowl after he falls.
I think the police officer was right. That man could have been seriously injured by dropping in to that giant wall of vertical ramp. When I take my longboard skateboard to burnside I make sure not to ride on anything bigger than I am tall, and I ALWAYS wear my pads and helmet! Sometimes the locals get a little out of control and I have to call the police on them. After all, my kids have every right to slide down the ramps on their butts. I pay taxes!
someone should bring a ladder to the skatepark, then everyone should start climbing up and dropping in on that thing, whats the security clown gonna do?
Sadly this is the result of taking skating into the mainstream and using tax dollars to build the parks. I would guess kids got hurt climbing on (falling off)it resulting in this case of “trespassing”. So if cities build parks aren’t they then responsible to govern them?
tim, this is not an example of responsible governing. this is an abuse of power, by power tripers. perhaps on the sign that has the rules there is something about if you are not on a human powerd vehicle stay out of the way and don’t play in the bowl. that is a law I am used to. that wall was clearly designed to skate. if some shithead kid falls into the bowl because he is grab assing some other kid on the edge, should they hassle skaters for dropping in? no.
I don’t think they should put stairs up the wall to make it easy. maybe a climbing wall. the climbing wall thing at hood river oregon has extended my sessions quite a bit when I take my 8 yr old there. more parks should have climbing walls
This is like watching Reno 911, but funnier.
When she says You got to Skateboard Up”, I think she means it like “Cowboy Up”, as in ditch the longboard and learn how to grind.
Granted “he who governs least, governs best” especially where skate parks are concerned, I’m just saying that climbing on the wall was the crime not skateboarding as others were skating in the park without incident. Perhaps it was just the individual monitoring the park that day who made up the rule but I doubt that. I think ssk has the right idea,take Tigard for example, that was a far worse breach of skaters civil liberties than not being able to drop in on some silly wall. Sure made for good video though!
longboards. skatepark. why were they even filming to begin with?
its not like anybody wants to see it anyway. the only thing i see wrong with the situation is that their longboards and camera weren’t confiscated. now they’ll undoubtedly go and do it again.
I thought it was just a skateboard with a long wheelbase. who want’s to see anyone’s home movies? they were filming for themselves, possibly just for fun. now that you pointed out the board was longer than average, I figure the drop in is more impressive.
WOW Milton skateparks monitor should not have that job .no knowledge of skateboarding or its history or what it entails. The two officers involved are thinking in such a rigid non logical way ,like robots.
Damienhialation YOU DON’T GET IT -you sound like someone who picked up a longboard on the back of the xtreme/tony hawk game, wave because you think it makes you “radical” & “Gnarly ” and you want to be a RAD DAD
SKATEBOARDING is about pushing your limits The danger is part of the thrill ,getting out of control is part of skating.
being a skater and calling the police on skaters is betrayal -letting your kids slide down the ramps is DANGEROUS and VERY ANNOYING TO THE SKATERS WHO THE SKATEPARK IS FOR !!!!
O.K. todays vocabulary word is Sarcasm. Please look it up if you don’t know what it means. You will be tested.
I got a response from the Mayor. Here it is.
“I have viewed the video and we are looking into it. I want to ensure that we react in a fair manner.”
Guy Thompson
Mayor
well I wrote the mayor and he finally got back to me
The young man met with the City Manager and admitted that he was told by the security guard not to jump from the wall. He also said that the video was edited in a way that omitted that part and has agreed to waiting out the 30 day suspension. The whole truth was not on the video.
Guy Thompson
Mayor
it doesn’t address the fact that if you don’t want a skater to skate something don’t include it in the park
i fucking knew it.
douchey mc douche just had to film his hammer, and then he had to try to argue with a cop ablout it when he could’ve just bounced out and avoided the whole thing.
I still don’t really get it. he did not jump from the wall, he dropped in on it, and why is there a security guard telling skaters what not to skate in a park designed for skating? but I do agree with the term “douchey mc douche” cos what happened to skating just for skatings sake? do you really need to film one last trick? live for the moment not the memory.
Hmmm. Filming or not, who cares. If you skate a public park, you have to follow the rules I guess. There are ways to get bogus rules changed. I wish mr video had been more forthright.
yea, you are right about my harsh opinion of the whole film everything aspect that sometimes dominates skating these days, maybe I’m just a jealous old guy. but in the written rules of the Milton skatepark (and I’d provide the link here if I was more computer savy) there is nothing about that vert wall at all.
so it still seems to me that the skater is in the right. and the “ruler” oversteped his boundaries.
Formal letter from the mayor
Thank you for e-mailing me concerning the you tube video about the incident at our skate park. The City of Milton, Florida wanted to provide a first class place for people of all ages to have a nice place to skateboard. The city spent a great deal of money to hire, what we feel professionals, in the field of skateboarding to build a great skate park. We hired Team pain and have been very happy to have a place where people from all over North West Florida can come and enjoy skateboarding. As in any public facility there must be rules. This is to protect all that we serve. I viewed the video myself and had questions. I asked the City Manager to investigate. He did by talking to each person involved plus witnesses. He has reported that he met with the young man who has been suspended from the park for 30 days and that the young man admitted that the video was edited and that he was told by the park security not to jump from that wall. He went ahead and did what he was told not to do and the result was what we all saw on the video. After hearing what really did happen, I back the officials and support the 30 day suspension. The City Manager said the young man is ok with the suspension and seems to be a very nice respectful person. I have offered to meet with the young man myself and hope to do so soon. I must say he did a great job of editing the video and I was impressed with it. I appreciate your comments, however, no one knew the whole story. We have rules to protect all that use the park and we must enforce them fairly across the board.
Guy Thompson
Mayor
City of Milton, Florida.
fuck you
what a verbose response to say nothing at all.
people should be allowed to drop in on obstacles at skateparks. THATS WHAT YOU PAID TEAM PAIN FOR!!!
or you could just let people skate only the way you approve of in the public skatepark and then go skate however they want illegally on public/private property. that make sense for your city/town/trailer park?
insane this even has to be said.
I feel so used by the video makers.
I challenge the mayor to ask Team Pain if the skater should be allowed to drop in there or not. IT’S A FKN SKATEPARK! He wasn’t skating something not meant to be skated. Obviously, only the skater involved knows what skating is… and the rules do not mention staying off the wall… and the rules state the park is unsupervised… so now, the city has opened itself up to injury lawsuits… frivolous for sure, but they have undermined the very thing they are so blatantly trying to avoid. People are dumb.
they make everyone sign a “liability release form”. that form should protect the city. another one of the park rules, is something about skaters policing themselves. the only way we are used, is because we might be spending more time on this than the skater who had to publicize his personal drama, and it does not seem like he is following up. so maybe they should “tresspass” him for accepting the 30 day suspension out of his own jurisdiction.
so many of you insist on overlooking the fact these dudes are GOONS. whiny, naive, lying, attention whoring, longboarding GOONS.
i’ll admit that the dude telling him not to drop in doesn’t have a clue about skateboarding, but you gotta admit that the dudes who made this video have no clue about little things like life and reality. no sympathy whatsoever.
and why would you bother trying to film a trick when it’s that dark anyway? at a park you skate all the time?
douchebags.
I’ve seen it before yet it never ceases to amaze me. The illogical way police enforce whatever they please and the power hungry attendants that supposedly make skateparks more secure. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief.
On a similar note… I was recently singled out and banned from a mall for skating in their parking lot. This took place at a skateboarding demo, along side a thousand plus other skateboarders. The details of this event are equally as ridiculous.
What’s more, the most recent comment by bailgun has infuriated me due to his ignorance and rudeness regarding the situation.
Can’t we all just get along?
read the mayors response, dude. homeboy did it once, was told not to do it again, and did it anyway so he could get his shitty little clip.
then, he lied to the whole world trying to get some attention.
yeah, the monitor dude is a jerk, but the dudes who made the clip are fucking RETARDED. thinking you’re going to be able to convince a cop to take your side against another authority figure? thats just plain stupid. had they just bailed and come back, nothing would’ve happened. instead, they acted like bitches, got smacked down, and now want sympathy from the world, and you’re giving it to them.
if those kids had even a third of a brain, they would’ve just come back when a different monitor was on duty and the light was decent to film their little drop in.
had they had one bit of common sense, it wouldn’t have happened.
I cant belive that this happened, if I was this guys mother (which I am a mother of a boy that skates there) I would fight this to the end!!
had they any common sense they wouldn’t be riding longboards in a skatepark anyway… I had my knee badly injured by some asshole on a longboard St. Augustine park, Florida seems to be full of longboard kooks in skateparks..
This whole thing cracks me up. Makes me long for the day when skating was different and cops meant scatter. Strange how we usually got away clean?
He who skates and skates away
Skates to skate another day
He who ends the sesh droppin in
Must wait 30 days to skate again!
Too funny!
Lame of the guys who made the video to mislead us. They could have gotten support to have the issue addressed if they had been straight about it.
Hey, it is a good sign that the Mayor and City Manager took everyones feedback seriously enough to look into it and try to make sure everything was cool.
If we had just been letting them know that it wasn’t reasonable to restrict what they were doing they probably would have made that happen. Maybe they did anyway.
Reminds me of an episode of LOST, after a while you don’t like either side but you are stuck watching.
seeing how i do live in milton florida i find this amusing ….i know how the milton police can be and the skate park was built to keep the skaters off “public” right of ways ….seeing how the first line in the RULES states this is a UNSUPERVISED skate park wonder what the heck he was doing there ….my children go to this park and doesnt have a letter of release from the county …further more …miss ummm spears is a B*tch and will always be ….she is hateful and unruly herself ….however she is right in order to get ANYTHING in this town changed we do have to go and hob nob with the city counsil which normally results in nothing being said or done because this town is full of old folks that dont want it there to begin with ….i feel for ya hun but while your at it you can go across the street to the projects and buy some drugs and NEVER see a cop …kinda makes ya wonder about the big picture this town itself is setting
probably the stupidest reason to kick some one out i mean that’s how Ur supposed to skate is get on the top of the deck and dropped in… But im sure they wouldn’t have kicked him for tail stalling the quarter pipe because Yolanda said” your allowed to pause up there and go back down” In her book wouldn’t that be getting on top, and accordingly Ur not supposed to cause there’s no access!!! Doesn’t make sense!!!
just read the mayors comment why wasn’t he just annost i mean u can get in more trouble lieng.
Blunt Fakie! Im just puttin it out there. HA
THAT POLICE OFFICER WAS CRAZY!THAT GUY DID’T DO ANYTHING WRONG & SHE DID’T LET HIM SKATE FOR 30 DAYS! THAT WAS TOTALLY MESSED UP!I THINK THE COP COMMITED THE CRIME!
read the whole thread, scooter.
its been established that the skater in question is a liar and a kook.
Anyone who lives in Milton will tell you: Milton Florida makes up its own laws, and enforces them with severe consequences. I moved to Milton, FL in May of ’09 and moved back to Brooklyn, NY less than 5 months later. Reason: I was drunk one day after work (like usual), my step-mother (who suffers from an array of mental illnesses) was trying to pick a fight (argue with me) about nonsense, then when I told her I wasn’t going to deal with it right now, she ripped my router out of the wall and threw it at me (like usual), so I went outside and sat on my front porch. She came out with the phone in her hand saying (to the police) that I was out walking the streets drunk. The cops showed up at the house just 5 minutes later, asked me to step out of the yard because we have a HUGE dog and they didn’t want to get bit, then handcuffed me for being “drunk in public”. When I later asked what I did wrong, I was told “nothing, you’re being detained simply for your own safety”. Now, if MY safety was of concern, shouldn’t they have arrested the person who was being violent and giving a dramatic display of anger? I was calm the whole time, talked with them as though an adult should (I’m 25 BTW) and although I was drunk, I was on MY OWN property which is completely legal. I asked if my step-mother said anything about me being violent or anything like that, to which they responded “no”. Basically, the only thing I did wrong, was to obey the police when they asked me to step out of the yard. This is unfair, unjust, and just plain ignorant. Had I disobeyed them, I would have gotten locked up even longer, but still… Dealing with Milton Police is like dealing with a stubborn child who is too proud to admit that he/she made a mistake.
I’d just like to respond to the post Bailgun put about Why they were filming when it was dark at a skate park. My friends and I film EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME because you never know when something funny is going to happen. Am I the only one who’s familiar with a little show called “America’s Funniest Home Videos”? Not that it’ll ever happen, but why pass up the chance to get a free $10,000? Am I the only one who thinks free money is a good thing? And as for a cop believing an authority figure over a civilian… OF COURSE!!! It’s called sticking together and standing up for each other instead of standing up for the law, something cops do WAY too much.
ok It doesnt matter if he told him to not do it or not. He had no reason to tell him that in the first place. All he was doing was skating and being creative which is what true skating is about. Its about having fun and freedom of mind. Its a very creative sport. Why u think there is street skating. Nothing u see in the streets was built to skate but someone saw something in it and now is the most popular kind of skating today. The security guard and the officer are the douches not the skaters who got band from a park for being a little to creative on a skateboard and any true skater would understand that fully and agree. And as far as the security guard claiming racisum, thats bull shit. There was nothing racist about what they did or said. They were just skating and having fun.
The funny thing is that all of the local kids play flatland skate in the middle of a really nice bowl here…. So that its impossible to actually skate this park… Met a couple of nice older locals here but overall it was a horrible experience. It was like something out of a “wrong turn” movie, no joke.
Oh yeah I sat on that wall taking photos lol got lucky I guess
Who the hell built such a tempting tombstone anyway?
It’s a vert wall not a tombstone there is a tombstone in the park
I watched the video and read the dialogue. This is why Milton seems to be a dirty word when you mention that you live here to anyone who doesn’t.
Having kids violated for doing what kids do in a skate park is the most ridiculous thing. It is an adult who wants to punish a young person, just any young person. I guess the adult was having a bad day.
Try to remember what you were like as a child, teen, and young adult.
The guy that dropped in is not a “D-bag”, you’re simply not understanding.
There are no rules that say you can’t drop in on the half pipe.
This rent a cop has no authority to dictate his own rules at a public park with rules that have been set up by actual government officials.