Man seen skateboarding while hanging on to truck on Westheimer
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A crazy video sent in by an ABC13 viewer shows a young man riding a skateboard while holding on to the back of a truck.
This crazy move is called skitching, where one holds on to the back of a vehicle to be pulled along while riding a skateboard or bicycle.
Ron Hines, who sent the video in, said he took the video on Saturday night around 11 p.m. while driving down Westheimer near Chimney Rock in the Galleria area.
Hines said he was on his way to get nachos, when he saw the stunt. He estimates the skateboarder was going about 30 miles an hour as he was being pulled, since the vehicle Hines was in had to get up to that speed just to reach him.
At one point in the video, the skateboarder is seen hanging on to the truck by just one arm, as he lifts the other to point or wave at Hines, who is filming him.
"What's up, bro?" the skateboarder can be heard saying. "This is the second camera today."
"And I was just telling the man, 'Be careful. Be careful.' That's some H-town stuff right there," Hines said.
Still, he said he doesn't want the man on the skateboard to get in trouble.
"I'm gonna bail him out if he gets in trouble because I filmed it. I got him," Hines said. "I think he was just finding a new way to get around, save a little gas."
Hines believes the skateboarder was lucky he didn't get hurt, because that part of the road was recently repaved.
Still, could the skateboarder get into legal trouble?
Texas doesn't have specific skateboarding laws, but the state warns against risky behavior such as going near traffic, riding skateboards at night on public streets and hitching rides on bicycles, cars and trucks, as the stranger did.
Some cities have specific ordinances about riding on streets. You can read more about skateboarding safety in Texas on this information sheet.
As for the driver pulling the anonymous stuntman, Houston police say that person could be charged with reckless driving, if caught.
