13-Year-Old Killed, Another Teen Critically Injured in Bronx Subway Surfing Incidents

A 13-year-old boy was killed and a 15-year-old critically injured in separate subway surfing mishaps in the Bronx early Friday, highlighting the dangers of this reckless trend, according to police and sources.

The younger teen fell off a northbound 6 train between the Westchester Square and Middletown Road stations in Pelham just before 9 a.m. He was found unconscious and unresponsive in the street beneath the elevated tracks and was declared dead at the scene.

Hours earlier, a 15-year-old boy was seriously injured while riding on top of another northbound 6 train at the Morris Ave.-Soundview station. He was taken to Jacobi Hospital in critical condition.

These incidents follow closely on the heels of another subway surfing accident where a 14-year-old boy was critically injured in Queens. The teen was riding atop a southbound 7 train on Sunday when his head struck a beam as the train pulled into the 111th Street Station. He was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital and is in stable condition.

Subway surfing has become a dangerous trend among thrill-seeking teens who film their exploits for social media. MTA statistics reveal 450 reports of people riding outside of trains, including on top of them, in the first six months of 2023, a significant increase from 262 reports during the same period in 2019.