And to you as well, sir!

*dead

That's terrible. He was truly a nice guy, a great mediator, and a cheerer-upper.

Really Harlequinn.... have you ever treated a concussion?

Oh, I'm sorry, by "treat" do you mean, "applied a poultice of herbs and prayed really hard?" or are you actually saying that you practice medicine in the twenty-first century? Please, please tell me that you are not a medical professional who believes the victim of an accident must be fine because they are conscious.

I guess I should just be excited that someone agreed with me about the kid's head actually touching the ground.

Yeah, it's hard to really tell and the vid is only thirty seconds long but certainly trying to diagnose the severity of an injury is a little more insane than accepting the fact that a little kid (or anyone for that matter) can potentially be seriously injured after getting hit by a person six times their size riding a skateboard.

Jesus Christ. I wish I knew why I cared about this so much but it's late and I'm tired so, fuck it:

The fucking kid's head is laying on the ground for three fucking seconds after he falls. You're fucking delusional.

There is no HD res for this video. Are you trolling or are you an idiot?

The concrete is pretty standard throughout the park with a few exceptions. That's your argument? This whole thing is a skate park from the parking lot at the south to the street at the north? Seriously?

Obstacles (in this case concrete benches throughout the entire park) that have marks on them do not qualify as a skate park. There are marks from skating on every bench, rail and staircase in my entire city. I assure you, the whole city is not a skate park because there are marks.

There are no ramps out of the skate area. If you can't see it on the overhead, look at the pic I posted. Seems like a small distinction? Nope. Stairs, not ramps. In fact, I can't see one ramp the entire place.

The "clear separation" comes from the stairs, wall, trees and fucking garbage cans surrounding the entire skating area which, by the way, has been sunk below the grade of the whole rest of the park! I mean, I guess they could've built a fence too but how clear does it have to be?

The kid was heading in the direction of the street, yes. But whose to say he wasn't going toward the fucking swings or anything else? Are you really now trying to imply that the mom was letting her kid run through the fucking street? Also, you don't have to start referring to him as "the child" now.

Nice way of avoiding the "barrels" question. I was expecting you to say he came out from behind that Greyhound bus that's so clearly present.

And enough with the fucking proximity of the fucking mom already. Kids are allowed to run through parks. And the guy who hits a kid with a fucking skateboard is the one who bears responsibility for hitting a kid with a fucking skateboard. Ahhh!! Seriously, what fucking world do you live in?

Alright, sorry. I'm cooked. Later.

Now, I don't know why I have so much trouble explaining this but I still really want you to understand that I'm not excusing this mom's actions.

The only thing I'm saying by suggesting her reaction is normal is this:

If I was skating through a public park, not watching where I was going, and I ran directly into someone's kid with a fucking weapon made of wood and steel, knocking them to the ground (except of course for their gravity-defying head), the first thing I would expect is for that parent to come at me.

I would be apologetic, just like the guy in the video because I would know it was ENTIRELY my fault. What I wouldn't do is try to explain to them that I actually bear only seventy-percent of the responsibility and that they shouldn't let their kid stray out of arm's reach in a park.

Sure, I would defend myself because I wouldn't expect that they were just going to immediately forgive me and think only about their shortcomings as a parent. I would defend myself because I still have the right to be safe in a public place, regardless of my actions.

What would I not do though? I wouldn't hit them with a fucking skateboard. Especially not the one I just hurt their child with. I wouldn't do that because I would know the only excuse I had was the petulant, middle-school refrain of "she hit me first!" I wouldn't do that because it would escalate the situation even more and I don't like to use violence to solve my problems. I'm perfectly capable of defending myself without hitting someone's irrational mother.

And then there's the question of pressing charges. Which for some reason to me is just laughable.

Was the lady wrong? Yeah, absolutely. Was she crazy? Maybe temporarily, it might have had something to do with someone running into her kid. I know a lot of people might not have acted the way she did (I would certainly have been more concerned about my own kid than the skater) but I know a lot of people might have FELT the way she did.

I just still don't think her actions were so far from what a person could expect after being a dumbass and skating directly into a little kid.

Maybe I don't get it because I'm an overprotective, irrational parent. Judging by how many times you referred to the child in the video as "it" however, maybe I just shouldn't expect you to understand my side either.

OK, OK... I know I'm talking to a person who can't see a kid's head hit the ground in a video where a kid's head clearly hits the ground but please do me one favor:

Look at the park layout from google maps that Eric posted above. Really zoom in and get a good look. What I see is a skate park on the left with some soccer fields further on and a parking lot on the right. In between, there's a narrow pathway leading from one part of the park to the other. That's why we see all those people walking through there in the video. They're not walking through the skate park, they're walking along a path.

Now, by your rational, this guy is allowed to skate wherever he wants in this park with no responsibility for running into anyone who happens to be walking through(since a toddler runs at about a normal person's walking speed, maybe a little faster). So I'm curious, where do you draw the line? Is this guy literally allowed to rail slide up the play equipment? Slalom between the swings? I really want to know where you think the line is. Are you really saying that the only path from one end of this overall park to the other runs right through the skate park portion of it? And everybody that walks through is supposed to expect skaters that aren't watching where they're going?

I only get so specific because a skateboard is a vehicle. You can ride one in many public places and I'm all for that but you bear a responsibility for hitting someone just like you would on a bike or in a car.

And I wasn't saying that the kid was running towards the picnic tables. I was saying that the skater was heading toward them, which it seems you agree with since you said the kid was running away from them. (BTW: Where do you get the idea that this kid "barrels out from behind an object?" What object?)

What it looks like to me is that this kid and his mom were coming from the north end, maybe the kid gets excited running to the play equipment on the south end when a guy, skating down the middle of the only path through the park, runs right fucking into him with a skateboard.

And the first reaction everyone has is to blame the kid and his mom? For running down a path through a park?

That was one of the funniest things I've read all month.

Really? Works just fine from my end. How do I embed a pic?

It's the skate area of Cannery Park in Hayward, CA.

http://img.fark.net/images/cache/850/N/NZ/fark_NZEIY70jIKl1CZ-TDDRkBtXR-yw.jpg?t=WzrbMzHluSyM5Tl3PxheSA&f=1377489600

You can see in the pic that the kid wasn't running in the area where you are supposed to skate. You can see that he was going right toward a set of picnic tables. You can even see the rails (coping) attached to the concrete in one area that aren't there in the area where the kid was running. I'll give you that he's pretty close but it's still entirely on the skater.

I just gonna say one last time that I'm not trying to justify the actions of this kid's mother. I'm just saying that, bottom line, hitting the kid was absolutely the skater's fault.

He was a nice guy and apologized, he didn't deserve to be hit. That said, I think her reaction was pretty normal. Most people wouldn't have acted on it but I'm really amazed at how surprised so many people are.

Is the kid alright? Probably. But I see that guy barrel into him and just can't imagine how fucking worried and angry I would be if it were my own son.

Wow, I hate to even justify your ramblings with a response but I want to make something clear:

I am not advocating violence or trying to justify her action. I never said that lady was in the right for hitting the guy, only that it's not such a crazy reaction to expect. Nor would hitting her back be so crazy... if the guy didn't just run over her child. Sure he might be legally justified but he'd also be a dickhead.

I don't know what video you were watching but the kid's head clearly hit the ground in the one I saw. And I know you're probably not a doctor, but a head injury that doesn't bleed is exactly the kind you don't want.

As for your making the issue about race and sex, I'm not even sure where you're coming from. I'd be really interested to know how you determined this man's race from a grainy youtube video. And for that matter, as a white male, I'd be interested to know why you even think it's important at all.

I'd also be interested to know how you came up with the crazy idea that skateboarding into a toddler who's running around in a park is partly the toddler's fault. And again with the "unwatched toddler" bullshit. Lucky put it pretty eloquently above.

Oh, and while we're on the subject: you might be surprised to know that in many places in the US, if someone assaults you, even if they sucker-punch you, and you escalate the situation by bringing in a weapon, you can get in just as much, if not more trouble than your assailant. I know a lot of people like to believe otherwise but you'd probably be surprised at the amount of people who get in trouble for that.

Below is a link to the world's largest skate park, SMP in Shanghai:

http://www.skateboardingmagazine.com/the-worlds-largest-skatepark-new-jiangwan-city-shanghai-china/

Notice any difference between it and the park in the video? Like how it looks smaller?

Did you notice any other differences? Are there trees growing in the middle of it? What about open seems in the concrete for wheels to click on? People strolling through casually as if they're on their way to work? Garbage cans?

Chi Chi, I don't think you've ever offended me even once. Most of the time, I can't even understand what you're saying.

Look I'm not advocating violence: it's pretty ridiculous that the mom in this vid walks right past her son to confront the guy. I can't imagine doing that but I can imagine going into a fevered blood-rage over someone hitting my kid with a skateboard while he's playing in a park. (I also can't imagine what makes you guys think this is a skate park?)

All I'm saying is that, regardless of the fact that it was an accident, if you hit a toddler playing in a park, it's your fault (speaking of trying to find blame in others). And that, just maybe, getting punched in the face isn't such an incredible reaction to expect in that situation.

What I love are the comments about charging the mom with assault or smacking her back with a skateboard after she just watched you smash her baby's head into the pavement. Yeah, that's definitely the appropriate reaction. Congratulations, you share the sensibilities of every twelve-year-old who commented on Youtube.

I'm willing to bet that the skater brushed it off and thought roughly, "oh good, now we can call it even."

Not so much though with Internet Tough Guys.

I would hope a skater could take a punch to the face after almost killing someone's kid in a fucking park where kids are supposed to be able to play without their parents hovering over them every fucking second.

I thought skaters were supposed to be tough. Apparently not as much as people who like to talk tough on the internet.

*promote