Wipeout at Sask. skate park leads to social media firestorm

A wipe out at a skateboard park earlier this week in Martensville quickly turned into an online war of words.

A video posted online shows a 14-year-old boy tumble, his skateboard sliding off course and onto a nearby road, hitting a passing car. We don’t see the alleged confrontation that followed, but according to witnesses, the driver got out and scolded the boy.

Following that, a Facebook post from a local business connected to the driver asked for the public’s help in locating the skateboarder.

“Anyone know this kid? I’d like to have a conversation with his parents about respect and damages caused to a car today.”

The dad of the boy then took to Twitter, posting video of the skateboard trick gone wrong, and slamming the driver and business owner for online harassment of his son.

“What kind of a person attacks and bullies a kid? We are reporting both the incident and this online harassment.”

An online sparring match between the adults ensued with thousands of people engaged in the drama.

Comments were plentiful. And, since the driver of the vehicle is affiliated with a Martensville family-owned business and made the post from the business page, residents didn’t hold back.

Social media expert Katrina German followed the online tiff. She cautions against taking quarrels online.

“Once something gets going viral there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Best thing to do is not have things go viral that are negative,” German, CEO, ethicaldigital.ca, told CTV News.

Businesses need to be extra careful, German says, and need to keep their online image positive to avoid repercussions. They should follow a general rule of thumb.

“Would I stand up in front of a crowd, of 300 or 500, however many followers you have and say this? So, always be judging. Use the golden rule, do unto others,” she says.

By Tuesday, the business shut down much of its social media presence and the owner apologized.

“I want to formally apologize for my behavior.”

They went on to request that the public stop attacking the staff at the business.

The City of Martensville Community development Manager, Dillon Shewchuk told CTV News this in an email.

“Since the skate park opened in 2017 we certainly are not aware of any similar incidents such as the one that has recently captivated so many on social media. We do continue to look for ways to improve safety in the area with a traffic calming plan being worked on for 3rd Street, steady police presence, and monitoring of the area.”

Since this incident involves a child, it’s even more concerning for German.

“I think we need to be taking care of each other online and especially taking care of the young because they're most vulnerable in this situation, so we need to make sure we are taking care of people’s emotions even though it feels like it's online and nobody's actually being hurt by this."