First Subway Surfer Death in 2024 as Teen Found Underneath F Train Station Near Boro Park

By Yehudit Garmaise

The first New Yorker to perish while “subway surfing” in 2024, was found near McDonald and Avenue N  near Boro Park on Friday at 2:17 p.m.

The victim, who was pronounced dead on the street underneath the Coney Island-bound F train, was 14 years old. 

Police attribute the deadly trend to the many photos and images of subway surfing that are posted on social media outlets.

When the number of deaths caused by subway surfing last year totaled five, the tragic trend spiked to a new high after five New Yorkers died from subway surfing in total from 2018 to 2022.

Since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began urging social media companies to remove any subway surfing posts, more than 10,000 videos and photos of subway surfing have been deleted.

Although the MTA also attempts to prevent teens from subway surfing by playing anti-subway surfing messages in the subway system, one subway rider told Pix11, “The more you tell them not to do something, the more they want to do it. They don’t realize their lives are on the line.”

Many teens say they have not heard the messages that tell them that subway surfing is deadly.

Although the NYPD has posted special patrols to monitor the elevated sections of the J, Z, and No. 7 lines right after school hours, no police were monitoring the F line as of last week as the line is not known for surfing.

The NYPD also uses drones to monitor elevated subway lines.

 “It pains me,” said Transit President Richard Davey after Friday’s death, “but I implore parents to talk with their children and teachers to speak with their students: riding on top of subway trains is reckless, dumb, and the consequences can be lethal.”