Zackery Nazario’s bedroom in the East Village is full of reminders of the 15-year-old who lived there.
One afternoon this summer, a Derek Jeter jersey in a kid’s size medium hung from a hook on the wall. Zackery’s mother, Norma Nazario, made her way around the room, rattling off other things her son loved: Slurpees from 7-Eleven, his cat, history trivia, any Christmas song by Frank Sinatra.
She smiled at a picture of Zackery’s last day of kindergarten, when he had insisted on slicking his hair into a spiky Mohawk. “I wasted two bottles of the real thick gel to get it to stay like that,” she said.
The bedroom has been empty since Feb. 20, 2023, when Zackery was killed while riding on top of a subway car as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge. Another thing Zackery loved was subway surfing, a deadly activity in which thrill-seeking teenagers scale moving trains.
At 6:45 p.m., Zackery climbed between cars of a Brooklyn-bound J train and was struck in the head by a low beam while turning around to look at his girlfriend, according to court filings. He fell between subway cars and was run over by the train.
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The post Zackery Died Subway Surfing. Is Social Media to Blame? appeared first on New York Times.
