The deadly trend among New York City youth of riding on top of speeding trains, known as subway surfing, may have claimed another victim on Friday.
An unresponsive and injured boy, 15, was found on the roof of a 7 train at Queensboro Plaza, in Queens, around 2:45 a.m., according to the police. The authorities transported him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death is still under investigation, the police said. But it appeared to be a failed attempt at the dangerous, thrill-seeking practice of train surfing, which has plagued the city for almost as long as there has been a subway system.
“This was as avoidable as it is tragic,” said Demetrius Crichlow, the president of New York City Transit, the division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that oversees the subway system. “I implore family, friends, teachers and anyone else who knows children that are even thinking about riding outside subway cars to persuade them it’s not some video game — it’s suicidal.”
In recent years, the number of fatalities linked to the practice has climbed as a new generation of daredevils has tried its luck, spurred on by videos of subway surfers on social media, transit and law enforcement officials have said.
The M.T.A. has been working with social media platforms, including Instagram and TikTok, to remove subway surfing footage. As of mid-June, more than 1,800 videos had been taken down, according to a news release from the authority last month.
The teenager’s death on Friday comes after a 14-year-old boy was found with head and body trauma on the tracks of the Baychester Avenue subway station in the Bronx on June 16. His condition is unknown. Another teenager, a 17-year-old who was not injured, was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal trespass.
In 2024, six people died after subway surfing, up from five deaths in 2023 and the five in total who died between 2018 and 2022.
Last year, an M.T.A. worker told The New York Times that on days he operated the 7 train, he received frequent reports about subway surfers, especially before and after school hours. The 7 line, which runs between Queens and Manhattan, is a popular line among subway surfers because of its cinematic views of the city.
Up until June 1, there had been two subway-surfing fatalities this year, compared with two in 2024 over the same time period, while 79 people have been arrested for the stunt, down from 88 in 2024, according to the police.
In recent years, officials unveiled a “ride inside, stay alive” public information campaign, which they updated in June to include comics about the perils of subway surfing along with recorded announcements by high school students. Officials have also positioned more police officers around hot-spot transit stations.
Transit officials and public safety authorities have long struggled to stop people from clambering onto the top of subway trains. Physical alterations — like open gangway cars and platform barriers — could deter some would-be offenders. But the city’s subway system is old and immense, with 472 stations and 665 miles of track, making wholesale structural changes onerous.
Since 2023, the police have used drones to better patrol for subway surfing. That year, the program identified 114 offenders, the youngest of whom was 9 years old, according to city officials.
Hilary Howard is a Times reporter covering how the New York City region is adapting to climate change and other environmental challenges.
The post Fatally Injured Teenager Is Discovered on Top of a N.Y.C. Subway Car appeared first on New York Times.
