UPDATE: Tuesday – 6/4/2013, 8:15pm ET
WASHINGTON – Police have identified the 18-year-old killed in a skateboarding accident as John Malvar.
Malvar was a senior at Washington-Lee High School, according to the school’s website.
“John was an incredible young man who contributed positively in many ways to our school and lives. The upcoming days will be difficult ones as we will be missing him and providing support to our Washington-Lee family,” a school statement said.
EARLIER: Tuesday – 6/4/2013, 3:45pm ET
An 18-year-old Arlington Public Schools student has died after a skateboarding accident in Arlington Heights this afternoon.
The accident happened on the 300 block of S. Highland Street around 12:30 p.m. According to police, the man was skateboarding down the street while hanging on to the side of a pickup truck, driven by a 17-year-old male student at an unknown rate of speed.
The man somehow lost balance and fell to the ground, hitting his head. He was not wearing a helmet. The fall caused “significant head trauma” and left a large pool of blood on the ground.
The man was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived on scene, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Medics performed CPR, the man regained a pulse, and he was rushed to George Washington University hospital in critical condition, Sternbeck said. But sadly, he later died.
Charges — reckless driving, most likely — are pending against the 17-year-old driver, according to Sternbeck. The victim and the driver attend both Washington-Lee High School and the Arlington Career Center, according to Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia.
The 300 block of S. Highland Street is closed while crime scene investigators take photos and measurements of the accident scene. Detectives are also interviewing witnesses and canvasing the street to see if any video surveillance systems might have recorded the moments prior to the accident.
