1 teen dead, 1 injured after fall while apparently subway surfing in Brooklyn
BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- One teen was killed and another was injured when they fell from a train while subway surfing in Brooklyn.
The 14 year olds were on the Manhattan-bound L train at the Broadway Junction stop Thursday afternoon.
One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was found in the tunnel. He is not believed to have sustained life-threatening injuries.
Witnesses said the teens were knocked off of the car when the train entered the tunnel.
"They removed us from the train and walked through the tunnel to come back from the platform," said Mel a Brooklyn resident.
Passengers and the teen's friends watched as EMTs took one badly injured teen from the tracks at the next station, but there was nothing they could do to save the other.
"My heart and condolences go out to his family. Hopefully the other person is okay. I hope these kids learn from this, they gotta stop doing stuff like this," Mel said.
At the scene, the head of the local community board held back tears, saying kids need to understand consequences.
"When you get older, you realize," said Robert Camacho. "Some of the things we done was, all of us did dumb stuff."
The MTA keeps statistics on people seen riding on top of trains or in-between cars. In 2019, 490 people were seen "riding outside of trains," according to an MTA report.
In 2020, the number dropped to 199, but the number began to rise in 2021, and last year, it exploded to 928.
Mayor Eric Adams said he blames the dramatic increase on social media and called for TikTok to ban videos depicting the dangerous acts.
"Today we lost another child. The consequences of social media and other addictive online content are tragic and real," Mayor Eric Adams said. "Subway surfing kills."
Mayor Adams pointed to a public service announcement he released only a few weeks ago featuring the mother of another teen who recently died subway surfing.
"Life is a gift. Treat it as such. Stop worrying about followers," the mother Norma Nazario said in the PSA.
In the first two months of this year, the rate has nearly doubled over the same period last year.
On average, two people are now seen riding outside of trains every day in New York. And those are only the incidents reported. It is believed it happens far more often than that.
"We urge anyone even thinking of subway surfing don't do it," said NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper. "It is extremely dangerous and deadly. The attention and the clout that you seek is just not worth it."
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Source: WABC-TV
