Hillsborough: Man jailed for unlawful skating

TAMPA - Skateboarders see the world differently, Adam Kowzun explained. Some people see parking lots and stairs.

"We see ledges and we see gaps," the 25-year-old from Atlanta said. And consequently, police see lawbreakers.

In town for the world's biggest amateur skateboarding competition, the 13th annual Tampa Am at the Skatepark of Tampa, Kowzun wanted to see what the world's best could do on Tampa's urban landscape.

He did, and got a night in Orient Road Jail. His crime: unlawful rollerskating. His sentence: 20 hours.

After official events, Kowzun and about 40 other skaters, some with video cameras, gathered on a set of 12 steps in downtown Tampa to watch three skaters do tricks. When a Tampa police officer dispersed them, Kowzun and his friends rolled back to the Embassy Suites Hotel. They didn't think they were breaking any rules.

" 'No skating' to me means no jumping downstairs, getting hurt," Kowzun thought. But as they waited for an elevator at the hotel, the officer caught up to them. He went straight for Kowzun.

"Don't resist," the officer said as he put him in handcuffs. Kowzun, a courier for a court reporting agency, was the only boarder arrested over the weekend for unlawful skating.

Sunday morning, Kowzun said the judge and lawyers laughed when his charge was announced.

After he was released Sunday, Kowzun clutched his board outside of the skatepark and reflected with friends on the duality of the skateboarding.

It's a sport, requiring balance, coordination and drive. But because the best stunts happen in urban landscapes, as skateboarders look over their shoulders for police, there's that edge of counterculture.

"The first time I got kicked out of somewhere, I was like, 'Yeah,' " said Cole Frazier, 18. "You feel like a real skateboarder."

Frazier spent 16 hours in a Gainesville, Ga., jail for skateboarding. Kowzun's other Atlanta friend, 23-year-old Justin Massa, has gotten criminal trespassing citations in Philadelphia, Nashville and Atlanta.

Just like the broken bones and bruises, the citations are trophies. Kowzun has his tickets framed.

"I wish they wouldn't hate us so much for skating," Frazier said. "It's just a plank of wood on wheels."

But to the hundreds of skaters who came to Tampa this weekend from as far away as Australia, it means so much more. It's what they wear, the music they listen to, who they look up to, who they hang out with.

They like that there is no one way to do a kickflip, no book of rules regulating style. They don't want to be confined to half-pipes at skateparks. They want to defy gravity.

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Comments on this article

by tarell	01/05/08 09:45 PM
wow.why so worried abotu getting everything damaged.Ive skated downtown before.nothin happend.what makes skateboarding illegal.nothing does.at all!I only got caught by 2 secrity guards.which only told us to leave.so what.i <3 skateboarding

by joel	08/16/07 07:00 AM
driving cars and trucks damages roads which taxpayers pay to fix. factories pollute the air which is killing our planet. would we ever stop these things, no chance. People get kiled by smoking which they dont deserve. skating is a scapegoat.

by Jason	03/08/07 08:20 PM
This poor man trying to compete I CAN see getting a reasoable fine to pay but not jail! I know someone that was caught going 94 MPH in a 60 and didn,t go to jail Ninety-four!!! (Quatre-vignt-quatorze) (French)just got a fine. Give the skater a break.

by Skate Park Tampa	01/25/07 09:15 PM
There is a new/nice skate park in Palmetto Beach. But its not good enough, the skater said himself, he wants to use actual things to jump from. This causes damage to property! Arrest them......or change the law!!

by Chuck	01/23/07 11:45 PM
Man, there are a lot of sweeping generalizations about skating here (Bill and Whitney's post is just ignorant). But I agree skaters should only be where allowed. Those parks need to be designed so they mimic what is being skated in the city though.

by vic	01/23/07 09:27 PM
what a waste of taxpayers money.Get real.There are actual criminal elements out there.But hey...in my city law enforcement spends time slashing tents.It is either feast or famine, obviously.

by chris	01/23/07 09:06 PM
Hopefully the skaters will cause more yankees to go back where they came from. Tampa needed at least five free skateparks for public use 20 years ago. But why do that when they can keep building gated communities for the rich yankees. The end is soon

by jack s	01/23/07 05:49 PM
The real issue here is respect for authority or the lack thereof. Mr. Kowzun simply wants to defy existing law concerning his public activities with no regard for the rest of the public. perhaps he needs a little more jail time to understand conseque

by Sean	01/23/07 04:41 PM
While I agree that there are right and wrong places to skate, I cannot agree with the ignorance contained within certain comments listed by my fellow Floridians, including Bill. Boy, that Tony Hawk sure is a loser. He should have quit before age 25

by Dan	01/23/07 04:41 PM
Matt - there is at least one city owned skatepark in St. Pete Beach. That's the one I know of off hand-I'm sure there are more - Largo? Clearwater?

by Bill	01/23/07 11:04 AM
Bottom line, a 25 year old skateboarding is a loser. Do something productive in society.

by Heather	01/23/07 10:30 AM
When the sign says, "No Skating", it means "NO SKATING".

by Gene	01/23/07 08:38 AM
The one part skaters fail to understand, for the most part it is private property or governmental property they are skating on. Then there is the damage they cause by sliding down rails, jumping steps, etc. that cost taxpayers to repair.

by amy	01/23/07 08:28 AM
the skaters don't realize that if they get hurt on someone elses property then that property owner is on the hook for liability. Plus the strangers loitering and the repairs if the planks with wheels scratch, scrape, gouge the steps, rails, etc.

by Scott	01/22/07 11:55 PM
Maybe we should stop blaming the young generation for problems in our society.Maybe we should look to the older generation for the answers to the problems they caused.But no, it's the youth, they are to blame.

by Matt	01/22/07 04:22 PM
"Our taxes pay for some skateparks - go there" Where? Are there realy any free public parks?

by Jeff	01/22/07 03:35 PM
To all that have commented "It's all fun until the property owner gets sued" please provide some backup on that statement. I guess we shouldn't allow people to ride bikes either? Because you never know, they might crash into someone and then get sued

by Donald B.	01/22/07 02:27 PM
How do you expect others to "respect" your rights when you don't "expect" theirs" ? A "badge of honor" you call it - I call it rude, arrogant, immature, adolescent self-indulgent, egotistical, anti-social behavior !

by Holiday	01/22/07 01:42 PM
Just a plank until they get hurt and sue the property. Or until a non skater gets in your way and you both get hurt. Simply go someplace you are allowed, or make a place.

by John	01/22/07 01:31 PM
It was all fun and games until the guy on the skateboard knocked some lady down in front of my store. He skates away, she leaves in an ambulance. Who does she go after to get her bills paid? Our taxes pay for some skateparks - go there.

by scott	01/22/07 12:00 PM
it is just skateboarding, you worried about paint and cement damage? what a joke. how about real criminals? do you worry about them? sorry, a skateboarder poses no threat to you or society. you are scared of something you cannot relate to. it's sad.

by janis	01/22/07 11:52 AM
This kid should go back to Atlanta.... we hate redneck skater punks here in Florida

by Whitney	01/22/07 11:52 AM
I personally find skateboarding to be a very dangerous and meaningless sport altogether. I was once ran down by a skateboarder,breaking both my hip bone and two ribs,so i'm very proud of that officer who gave this young man a citation,he deserved it

by Jen	01/22/07 09:36 AM
They may think it's "just skating" but they are on property they don't have permission to use. The boards remove paint from railings and damage cement. And there is the liability issues, who to sue when they get hurt. Go to skate parks.

by John	01/22/07 09:30 AM
This is the reason for overcrowded jails, overzealous, egotistical, arrest-happy LEOs.

by Rich	01/22/07 07:13 AM
Just yesterday I drew money from an ATM at a bank in New Port Richey. All around the building were broken bricks and tiles from skaters. Skateboarding is not a crime but when you destroy someone's property you need to spend the night in jail.