A 14-year-old boy was hospitalized Sunday after hitting his head while subway surfing in Queens, New York.
The teen, whose identity has not yet been released, was reportedly riding on top of a No. 7 train traveling southbound, the New York Post (NYP) reported, citing the New York Police Department (NYPD). While the boy was surfing the roof of the train, he apparently struck his head on a beam as the train pulled into the 111th Street Station around 4:30 p.m.
The teen was reportedly rushed to a local hospital in stable condition, the outlet reported.
The Corona train station, where the incident took place, is above ground with an overhang that reaches across the tracks, leaving roughly a foot of space between the passing train’s roof and the beams, the NYP noted.
There has been a string of subway surfing incidents across social media platforms, the outlet noted. (RELATED: NY Subway Surfing Claims Its Latest Victim).
14-year-old subway surfer rushed to hospital after striking head at NYC station https://t.co/d6mSwR3fTC pic.twitter.com/tz1rTXsDJ1
— New York Post (@nypost) June 10, 2024
Back in January, a 14-year-old boy was killed while subway surfing in Brooklyn, according to New York Daily News. Alam Reyes was riding atop a Coney Island-bound F train alongside his friend when he fell off. His friend continued riding on the train to the next stop before returning to the spot where his friend fell off.
Reyes was pronounced dead at the scene, the outlet reported.
The NYPD began deploying drones back in Nov. 2023 to catch teens subway surfing, according to ABC7. Officials say the drones will be used to aid in arrests and to hopefully deter teens from participating in the daredevil acts.
With drones, the police will write up a report about the incident, but instead of putting the offenders in their system, they’ll show the video to the teen’s parents and school, ABC7 reported.
“When they are trying to get down from subway surfing, the train conductor may step on the brakes a little too hard and that’s when they lose their balance and can slip and get crushed by the train,” NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry told ABC7.