Reminds me of something that happened to me and makes me think there's a reason to keeping skaters off of sidewalks. I was walking down broadway with some friends and this little bastid my age jams the nose of his skateboard into my ankle(lower left deflection, thank god not straight on the heel)...needless to say, the resultant popping noise wasn't any fun. Instead of apologizing and offering me some help, he tells me to "Get the F*** out of the way" and tries to skate off. My friends, by this point jimmy jacked him clean off his board and ask him to excuse himself(milder than what really happened, but no physical violence at this point). He starts swinging, so my friends decide the best action is to hold him down and take his board. I leave him my phone number and tell him if he wants it back, he's gonna have to negotiate. that evening, I get a call from his mom who's screamin at my ear as to why we're bullying her son. After givin her an earful, I had the medical bill paid and I don't wanna know what happened with him. Still, I would've liked to have the incident never happen.
I guess my point is that there's a reason why skateboarders shouldn't be allowed on public venues. I have nothing against skaters and I realize that it's hard to find places to skate because my friends tried for the longest time to get me into it(Now, I don't look completely foolish on a board), but it gives those bad folk an opportunity to make the majority look bad and it really is a danger to the non-skating public. I don't wanna think what would've happened if my friends weren't there.