Skater’s Death Raises Safety Issue : Fatality: Some people are wondering whether more restrictions are needed on the use of “in-line” skates after 13-year-old crashes into a bus in Hermosa Beach.

After weeks of washing cars and selling lemonade, 13-year-old Alexander Federico finally had saved the $65 he needed to buy a coveted pair of purple “in-line” skates a week ago Wednesday.

The next day, he and his 11-year-old sister, who already owned a pair, decided to test out his racy new wheels on a steep section of Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach.

Technically, Alexander was violating the law. State and city laws prohibit skaters, bicyclists and skateboarders from riding on the streets and sidewalks in commercial areas. But the Pier Avenue hill is a popular thoroughfare to The Strand and police rarely enforce the ban.

Alexander barreled ahead. But when he tried to stop at the bottom, he lost control, jumped a curb and slipped under a bus that was crossing the intersection.

Paramedics said he was killed instantly.

During the week that has passed since the accident, Alexander’s death has continued to touch not only many residents in this tiny beach town, but the skating community at large.

At least one Hermosa Beach city councilman is questioning whether in-line skates should be prohibited for children under 16. A few merchants are calling for further restrictions on in-line skaters. And some skating enthusiasts are wondering if more should be done to educate novice skaters about safety.

The skating industry needs “to rethink the idea that people have an automatically accurate idea of their own limitations,” said Neil Feineman, editor of In-Line Magazine. “To put on these skates and treat them as if they’re no different than running or riding a bike is not to give the sport its due. It does take a bit of time to work up to an advanced level.”

Alexander’s death came on the heels of reports that in-line skates, so named because the wheels line up in a single row to resemble ice skates, are more dangerous than conventional roller skates and are responsible for a rising injury toll.

Although more than 20 companies market in-line skates, the Rollerblade brand has taken the brunt of criticism because it is the most popular, accounting for about 50% of all sales. Alexander, however, was using a different brand--a pair of Roller Derby brand Phantom skates.

In response to complaints that in-line skates are much faster and harder to stop than conventional skates, several communities--including Venice, Huntington Beach and La Canada Flintridge--have ordinances either banning or restricting their use on public property.

But defenders of in-line skates, which are now owned by an estimated 3 million people nationwide, say such actions are unwarranted.

Although the Hermosa Beach fatality brings to five the number of in-line skaters killed in accidents nationwide over the past five years, the number of deaths are proportionately much smaller than those in many other sports, said Joe Janasz, executive director of the International In-Line Skating Assn. in Minneapolis.

Skating proponents compare the sport’s risks to those of skiing and say most injuries can be prevented with wrist guards, helmets and pads. And, in an effort to defuse criticism, manufacturers of in-line skates have mounted a major safety campaign in the past 18 months. Rollerblade now puts a warning tag on its skates cautioning skaters to wear protective gear, to follow the rules of the road and to skate in control at all times.

If there’s a problem, it is not with skating manufacturers, many in the skating industry say. It is instead with retailers who sometimes fail to educate novices about the gear they will need to skate safely.

Alexander’s uncle, Ivan Kanno, had taken his nephew to Sportmart in Redondo Beach to buy his skates last week. Although the salesman told Alexander to be careful, he did not go over the skates’ potential dangers in any detail and failed to show him how to stop, Kanno said. He also failed to encourage him to buy a helmet or pads, Kanno said.

Sportmart’s Western Regional Operations Manager Steve Reed said it is the company’s policy to recommend protective gear for anyone who buys in-line skates. But, he added, the self-service style of the store means that only customers who ask for such advice and assistance will receive it.

“We certainly deal with everyone from the novice to the weekend warrior to the expert,” Reed said. “People who know what they want walk right through. Others who want to know more will ask for assistance.”

Kanno described his nephew, a San Marino resident, as “a great kid” who was anxious to get the new skates because “everybody in his neighborhood had them.”

Alexander and his sister had been visiting their uncle at his Hermosa Beach home for the previous couple of weeks and decided last Thursday to skate to The Strand, just a few blocks from his house, Kanno said. The uncle said he was not aware that Hermosa Beach prohibits skaters from using the sidewalk in commercial areas.

Although he described Alexander as an active boy, Kanno said his nephew really wasn’t a risk taker. “He wasn’t overly cautious, but he wasn’t a daredevil, either,” Kanno said. “He was just a normal, active kid.”

Witnesses to the accident said Alexander clearly lost control before he plowed into the bus, which was going about 10 m.p.h. Skating experts familiar with the hill said Alexander was probably going about 25 m.p.h., a speed that would have required fancy turning maneuvers or at least 30 feet to stop.

Carrie Brooks, who owns a children’s clothing store on Pier Avenue, said she remembers seeing Alexander riding on the sidewalk past her window moments before he was killed and noticing that he hadn’t yet started to brake.

“He just went flying by and nobody goes that fast unless they . . . really know what they’re doing,” Brooks said. “I heard a real loud thud and I said to myself, ‘I wonder if that boy got hit.’ ”

Dozens of customers in stores along Pier Avenue streamed outside in disbelief, many of them in tears.

In the wake of the accident, Hermosa Beach council members are questioning whether the city could have done more to prevent the tragedy. Councilman Albert Wiemans suggested that city officials look into restricting in-line skating to adults and children over 16. And Councilman Roger Creighton said he may propose an ordinance similar to one adopted by Huntington Beach in April that would prohibit in-line skaters from using public property.

“It appears that the biggest endorsement (of in-line skates) by users are their high speed, and I believe that products which are designed for high speed . . . should be relegated to a sporting field rather than public property,” Creighton said.

At least one shop owner along Pier Avenue agreed this week that it was time the city took action. Guity Shaghaghi, owner of a clothing boutique near the intersection where Alexander was hit, said she is constantly worried that speeding skaters are going to lose control and run into her shop’s window.

“I don’t know what the city is going to do, but they have to do something,” she said. “I think if they don’t do anything about it, that these things will keep happening.”

But several other Hermosa Beach merchants described ordinances restricting skaters as impractical or unnecessary.

Brooks, who is a recreational “Rollerblader”, said she would be very upset if the city decided to restrict in-line skates on the basis of one death. The accident “really had nothing to do with the (skates),” she said. “He was just very inexperienced . . . and didn’t know how to work them at all.”

John Whited, owner of a barber shop on Pier Avenue, said he often warns his customers to watch out before they step out of his shop for fear they’ll be run over by a skater or bicyclist. But, although expressing frustration that the city rarely enforces its ordinance prohibiting skating down the hill, he said it was unrealistic to expect police to do more.

“I don’t know what the solution is because everyone is coming to The Strand to skate,” Whited said. “Ideally, they should carry their skates to The Strand, but who’s going to do that? Kids don’t want to carry their shoes while they skate . . . . It’s just not practical.”