Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
1 dead, 1 injured in Brooklyn subway surfing incident
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
and
Christian Santana
Published Jun 22, 2023
Modified Jun 23, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Ramsey Khalifeh/Gothamist
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
and
Christian Santana
Published Jun 22, 2023
Modified Jun 23, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
One teenager has died and another has been injured in a subway surfing incident in Brooklyn, police said.
The incident happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Thursday in the vicinity of the Bushwick Avenue-Aberdeen Street L train stop, according to the NYPD.
One of the youths was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was taken to Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center in serious but stable condition, officials said. Outside the station, a group of distraught teens could be overheard asking police officers where their injured friend was taken.
“Subway surfing kills. It kills,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the scene on Thursday afternoon.
“He was not in school today,” Adams said of the deceased teen, adding that the youth graduated junior high school on Wednesday. “He was on top of the train.”
From Jan. 1 through May 25, 2023, there were 52 subway surfing incidents, according to the NYPD. Michael Kemper, the police department's chief of transit, said the overwhelming majority of subway surfers are young teens.
Kemper said the NYPD's transit bureau compiled a list of dozens of known subway surfers and had reached out to their families in an attempt to dissuade them from subway surfing. He added that the teens involved in Thursday's incident were not on the list.
"If you are a teenager and you are engaged in this activity, I am looking at you and imploring you to find something else to do," said Richard Davey, president of the New York City Transit Authority.
"If you are a parent and you think your child is engaged in subway, surfing, riding between cars, please tell them it is not a game," Davey said.
The mayor also urged social media to become “more socially responsible,” and called for platforms like TikTok to ban subway surfing videos. When asked about how this could take shape, Adams pointed to previous talks between city officials and TikTok about trending videos involving car thefts.
In a statement, TikTok expressed sympathy for the families of the boys and pointed out that subway surfing pre-dates the existence of the platform. The company said 40,000 "safety professionals" worked to monitor and remove harmful content.
Mayor Adams and NYPD officials hold a press conference at the Bushwick Avenue station, where one teen died and another was injured on Thursday afternoon in a possible subway surfing incident.
Ramsey Khalifeh/Gothamist
L trains were running with delays in both directions late Thursday afternoon, according to the MTA.
This story was updated with additional comment and information.
Tagged
transit
nypd
MTA
brooklyn
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Christian Santana
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .