QUEENS (PIX11) — Transit officers on a No. 7 train in Queens spotted teenage subway surfers on top of a subway car, police said Sunday.
The teens — a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy — were seen on Thursday afternoon as the train headed into the 40th Street subway station, police said. They were taken to the local station house and released to their parents.
Police said they “can’t stress enough the dangers of train surfing,” in a tweet. A number of people have suffered fatal falls from subway surfing in recent years.
“Riding on the outside of a subway car is foolish for all & has proven deadly for some,” police tweeted. “So when our District 20 cops saw teens doing just that the other day, they were immediately taken into custody & turned over to their parents.”
A number of people have suffered fatal falls from subway surfing in recent years. In 2021, a man fell from the top of a moving J train as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge. He was run over by the train.
Subway surfer deaths were also reported in 2016 and in 2017. There was also a 2019 subway surfing death. The New York Daily News reported the victim in that incident was a 14-year-old boy.
A recent Twitter video of a subway surfer caught the attention of MTA Chief Customer Officer Sarah Meyer. She asked if the individual wanted to meet up to talk about “working for the MTA.”
“We know you love trains as much as we do, but we also hate cleaning up body parts of subway surfers,” she tweeted. “This isn’t the way to earn keys. Maybe we can develop something together to promote fun but safe riding?”
