LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (PIX11) — Police took a teen into custody after he was spotted riding on the outside of a subway on Wednesday night, just days after a 15-year-old boy died while subway surfing.
The teen, 17, was holding onto the back of the last car of a northbound no. 7 train at the Queensboro Plaza subway station around 10:15 p.m., an NYPD spokesman said. He was taken into custody and then released to a guardian on juvenile report.
“The NYPD is on it. They arrested a kid last night,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said Thursday about the teen.
He said police have been taking out stations where subway surfing tends to happen.
“They haven’t charged every one, but they apprehend the kids who are doing this and they get in touch with the parents and they are doing what they can,” Lieber said.
Last year, NYPD Chief of Transit Jason Wilcox described subway surfing as an “unfortunate trending issue.”
A number of people have suffered fatal falls from subway surfing in recent years. In addition to Monday’s death, a 15-year-old boy died while subway surfing in December of 2022. In late 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.
