(New York) For years, an indication of Ka’Von Wooden’s dream of one day driving a subway train hung on his bedroom wall: a map of Line 6. His mother, Y’Vonda Maxwell, says that Ka’Von imagined himself in the driver’s cab, speeding through the subway tunnels.
Ka’Von, a shy 15-year-old from the Bronx with autism, was “fascinated by subway trains,” Maxwell said. “He ate it, he only thought about it, only talked about it. »
One morning in December, Ka’Von climbed onto the roof of a J-line train bound for Manhattan. As the train approached Delancey Street/Essex Street station, Ka’Von tumbled and hit the third rail, police said, suffering a serious head injury. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, police said.
Ka’Von’s death is another tragedy related to so-called subway surfing (subway surfing), a high-risk stunt that involves getting on top of cars. On Monday night, Zachery Nazaro, a 15-year-old boy from Manhattan, was pronounced dead after hitting his head on an object while riding on the roof of a J-line train bound for Manhattan and he then fell between cars, New York police said.
The number of people surfing out of cars – for example by climbing onto the roof, riding between cars or hanging from the sides – has more than quadrupled. There were 928 cases in 2022, compared to 206 in 2021 and 490 in 2019, before ridership dipped during the pandemic, according to the latest statistics provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that operates the network of New York public transportation.
“Foolish Things”
The MTA does not isolate data on people riding the roofs of trains, which officials say is a small percentage. Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit — the division of the MTA that runs the city’s subways and buses — said he believes the vast majority of incidents happen when people are moving between cars.
“We can’t stress enough that riding on the outside of trains is dangerous. Our hearts are with loved ones at this tragic time,” Mr Davey said in a statement.
We implore other families to talk with their children about the real dangers of what may seem like something exciting, but too often is deadly.
Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit, in a statement
Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that the circumstances of the boy’s death were “traumatic” and that the City would do more to educate young people about the dangers of subway surfing. ” You are young. You are doing insane things,” he said, adding that “it was truly a terrible and tragic incident for this young man.”
The phenomenon seems largely unique to New York, where the subway system is extensive and reflects the hectic pace of the city. The Chicago Transit Authority typically receives only a few reports of surfing per year, while the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has recorded five such incidents in the past two years, according to transit company representatives.
Rolling out of train cars is illegal, but the police department does not compile arrest data for this reason. Davey said the authority is trying to get the word out about the dangers of subway surfing, while the police department said in a statement that increased police presence at stations and on platforms – the governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams flooded the network with additional officers in the fall – could “discourage violations of transit rules and regulations, including riding on the outside of subway cars.”
Impress his friends
During interviews with five teenagers who had traveled in the metro outside the cars, the New York Times learned that participants, who tend to be teenagers, according to interviews and social media videos, typically enter a train like most passengers. Once the train leaves the station, the surfers slip between the cars and climb onto the roof. The boys say they usually opt for the elevated metro lines, where they can feel the wind and see the city from above.
Jon, a 15-year-old boy from Queens who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of possible legal repercussions, says he was caught surfing in the back of a subway line 6 by police in early 2022, but got off with a warning.
Thrill-seekers riding atop subway cars are nothing new; an article from New York Times of 1991 evoked the phenomenon at the time. But at a time when social media is so important to social status, teens are being pressured to post bold, eye-catching content, experts say, and videos of young subway surfers have gone viral on TikTok. “To get views, likesand to get people to interact with your posts, you have to do something crazier,” said psychology professor Kim Gorgens of the University of Denver.
To gain fame with your friends, you need to do something bigger and crazier. We outdid each other in a truly perilous place.
University of Denver psychology professor Kim Gorgens
After the New York Times asked TikTok to comment on its policies on surfing videos and content that might encourage young people to do dangerous things, many videos of teenagers surfing in New York disappeared from the platform.
“The safety and well-being of our users is a top priority at TikTok. As we make clear in the guidelines governing our community, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes or glorifies dangerous challenges that could lead to injury,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.
Line 7, which goes from the Flushing Main Street station to station 34 th Street – Hudson Yards, has become a hotspot for surfers, said Sarah Meyer, former MTA customer service manager. Stanley Lawson, a train operator with the MTA for nine years, said he took a year of medical leave after a teenager fell from the trainset he was driving. “With Line 7, it seems like the top of the train is more crowded than the inside now,” Lawson said.
In September, a video posted to YouTube showed a group of at least 20 teenagers shouting and dancing on the roof of a running Line 7 train.
Rey, a 16-year-old boy from the Bronx, said he was present, but because he was late he and two friends waited for the next subway leaving Queensboro Plaza and went up to the roof. At one point, one of the boys tripped over Rey’s leg and fell, he said. Rey says she grabbed her friend’s hands before he fell onto the tracks.
Rey was surfing almost every day at the time, he said. After her friend’s fall and the news of Ka’Von’s death, Rey only surfs once every two weeks. In early January, Rey and the friend he saved from falling attended a ceremony for Ka’Von, where they laid flowers and lit candles outside the Manhattan station where he died.
Later that day, Rey’s friend went surfing on the J train. He hit his head on the roof of the tunnel and had to be pulled off the train, not far from where s Ka’Von’s memorial ceremony was held, according to Rey. He was swarmed by police and paramedics who tried to stop the bleeding from his head. This time the boy survived.
This article originally appeared in the New York Times.