San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced Friday she is declining to file charges associated with the Dolores Hill Bomb skate event that resulted in the arrest of 81 juveniles and 32 adults in July.
"Misdemeanor citations presented to our office for failure to disperse and inciting a riot will be discharged at this time," Jenkins said. "If additional information is developed, charges may be filed for up to one year, consistent with the statute of limitations for misdemeanor offenses."
San Francisco police are actively investigating vandalism and other offenses allegedly committed during the Hill Bomb while reviewing a "voluminous" amount of evidence, the DA's Office said.
"Discharging these misdemeanor citations does not involve or impact any current or potential investigations into vandalism, property crime or any other more serious crimes connected to the Hill Bomb event, as those alleged crimes remain a top focus for us to pursue," Jenkins said. "Should anything come to light connected to any of these specific individuals, our office has the ability to file charges in the future."
The guilt of the individuals named in the misdemeanor citations, she said, could not be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt and that the evidence did "not clearly show which specific individuals were inciting a riot, heard the dispersal orders, and refused to comply with dispersal orders."
In the immediate aftermath, the mass arrest of 115 people—83 of them juveniles—drew shock and outrage among members of the public and some elected officials.
The event, organized by city skateboarders and advertised on social media, often occurs in mid-July and has drawn thousands of participants and spectators in previous years.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott pushed back on criticisms of the arrests, saying the department spoke with the event's originators, who told authorities they should shut it down.
During the event, police said officers recovered a gun, knives, fireworks and spray paint.
The DA's Office said that the charges against the man arrested for the gun have also been discharged at this time, pending DNA analysis of the weapon.