Police seek clues in hit-run death of skateboarder

Silva-Thomas was rushed to Morton Hospital, where dozens of his friends, including his girlfriend, showed up. Soon after arriving at the hospital, Silva-Thomas died, according to his family and Taunton police.

“I never knew he had so many friends,’’ said Edwin Carlos, 77, Silva-Thomas’s grandfather. “Everybody is devastated. It’s such a hard thing for all of us to take, and to know that it was done by someone who didn’t stop. Wow, that person has no conscience They should turn themselves in.’’

Witnesses told police the driver of the car apparently turned off its lights as he or she fled, heading north on Bay Street. The accident happened so fast, according to witnesses, that they hardly saw the vehicle.

A woman driving nearby had to swerve to avoid hitting Silva-Thomas as he lay in the street, according to family and police. She hit a guardrail but was not seriously injured.

That portion of Bay Street is two lanes and has no sidewalk, but skateboarders often use the narrow strip of pavement outside the solid white line marking the edge of the two-lane street. Silva-Thomas was not wearing a helmet, according to authorities.

Police are asking for the public’s help in the case.

News of the fatal accident traveled quickly through town, especially among skateboarders and dirt-bike riders.

At Skaters Edge Indoor Skatepark, a large indoor skateboarding and bicycling facility, teens expressed shock that Silva-Thomas had lost his life while doing something they all love.

“Yeah, it’s very sad; I couldn’t believe it when I heard,’’ said 13-year-old Nathan McNielly of Attleboro. He is a regular at the indoor park, which is full of wooden ramps and jumps and handrails and other urban landscape replications.

“In my town, nobody skates anymore because everyone has a car or is being driven,’’ McNielly said. “But when I come here, it’s so different. You get people from all over.’’