Emergency Rooms Attest to Skateboarding Toll

For each impressive skateboard move, there is probably an equally impressive scar.

Last year, 91,644 injuries were treated in hospital emergency rooms as the result of accidents involving skateboards--about one-sixth the number caused by bicycle mishaps, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The number rises as the sport’s popularity increases, although industry spokesmen, such as Bob Denike of Santa Cruz Skateboards, say pads and other safety equipment are improving.

The late Fred Astaire at age 80 reportedly fell and broke his arm while maneuvering a board to impress his grandchildren.

INXS drummer Jon Farriss had to cancel the Australian rock group’s European tour this summer after a skateboard spill aggravated his arthritis.

Angelo (Rocky) Krakoff, who played Sylvester Stallone’s son in the film “Rocky IV,” needed surgery for injuries suffered when hit by a car while skating in Los Angeles.

“We’ve all had our share of accidents, but it’s worth it,” said Brian Kahn, a freckle-faced 14-year-old from Riverside. “Not if like your tooth is on the ground and your eyeballs are over there. . . . We learn how to fall.”

Some are less fortunate.

In Santa Rosa in February, 16-year-old Daniel Vargas fell off his board as he was traveling to the hospital to see a friend who had damaged his liver in a skateboard accident. Vargas was in a coma four days and required brain surgery. “It was just a struggle to give him the will to live,” his mother, Connie Vargas, said.

In the hospital a month and rehabilitation another month, Vargas missed the rest of the school year.

The August issue of the magazine Transworld contains a eulogy of sorts for Reece Ramirez, a 16-year-old Sierra Madre boy who was struck by a vehicle while skateboarding with a friend in January. When the friend went to get help, Reece apparently was struck a second time, the account said. He died the next day.

“While we are skating and having fun, he will be watching over us to make sure we don’t have another tragic accident such as what happened to one of my best friends,” wrote Chris Jurebie.