2 girls die while apparently 'surfing' atop New York City subway train
“Parents, teachers, and friends need to be clear with loved ones: getting on top of a subway car isn’t ‘surfing’ — it’s suicide," said NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow.
Two girls were found dead on top of a New York City subway train Saturday morning, prompting a warning from the head of the transit agency about the hazards of “subway surfing.”
The ages of the deceased girls found atop a Brooklyn-bound train were not confirmed Saturday, a spokesperson for the New York Police Department said.
Demetrius Crichlow, the president of NYC Transit, called the deaths a tragedy and highlighted the dangers of “subway surfing,” when people ride on top of trains.
“It’s heartbreaking that two young girls are gone because they somehow thought riding outside a subway train was an acceptable game,” Crichlow said in a statement.
“Parents, teachers, and friends need to be clear with loved ones: getting on top of a subway car isn’t ‘surfing’ — it’s suicide. I’m thinking of both the grieving families, and transit workers who discovered these children, all of whom have been horribly shaken by this tragedy,” he said.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said, “My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of the two teenage girls who tragically lost their lives last night atop the J train.” He said the incident “is a stark reminder of the dangers of subway surfing.”
An NBC News review of surfing incidents found 18 deaths in New York City in 2023 and 2024 — six deaths occurred in 2023 and 12 in 2024. The NYPD said in August, before the girls died Saturday, that three people had died in subway surfing incidents this year.
The police department has started flying drones over trains in order to spot people riding on trains. Mayor Eric Adams said in June that so far this year officials “rescued subway surfers from trains 52 times before tragedy struck.”
Norma Nazario, whose 15-year-old son Zackery died in 2023, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against ByteDance, TikTok and Meta in 2024.
She told NBC News NOW that her son was introduced to “subway surfing” on social media. Zackery died after his head struck a beam while he rode atop a train that was traveling over the Williamsburg Bridge.
The lawsuit says that the social media companies “intentionally design and develop their products to encourage, enable, and push material to teens and children that Defendants know to be problematic and highly detrimental to their minor users’ mental and physical health.”
“Zackery Nazario did not open or use a TikTok or Instagram to search for dangerous challenges,” the lawsuit says.
It alleges that “by product design,” the platforms directed videos to him about subway surfing. Shortly thereafter, he climbed on top of a Brooklyn-bound J train, struck the low beam, fell in between the cars and onto the tracks and was run over by the train, the lawsuit says.
The case is pending.
Meta, ByteDance and TikTok denied the allegations last month when responding to an amended complaint.
