How Dangerous Is Subway Surfing? 15-Year-Old Riding Atop NYC Train Falls To Death

A 15-year-old boy riding on top of a train in New York City was killed, becoming the second victim to suffer a death of this kind in less than 3 months.

Zachery Nazario was on a Brooklyn-bound J train with his 17-year-old girlfriend when the two reportedly began walking between train cars around 6:45 p.m. Monday.

The teen boy later climbed on the roof of the train, followed by his girlfriend, as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge over the East River, according to NY Daily News. When he turned back to look at the girl, he was struck by a low beam and tumbled down between the cars.

Zachery fell as his girlfriend watched, was run over by the train, and was killed at the scene.

"He was a great kid," the victim's mother, Norma Nazario, told the outlet.

"I just don't want it to happen again because to my knowledge, he's the second kid this happened to," she added. "Hopefully his friends will stop ... Just stop. Just really stop. It's illegal."

Zachery's death comes just about two months after another 15-year-old boy from the roof of a train while subway surfing. The teenager died after hitting the electrified third rail on Dec. 1.

"We cannot stress enough how dangerous it is to ride on the outside of trains. Our hearts go out to loved ones at yet another tragic time. We implore other families to speak with their children on the real dangers of what can seem like a thrill but is too often deadly," said NYC Transit President Richard Davey.

Officials have been highlighting how subway surfing has become a reckless social media trend and reiterated how dangerous it can be.

"Riding on the outside of a subway car is not only illegal but incredibly dangerous. Each year we see riders, many of them teens, killed or seriously injured engaging in so-called subway surfing. We enforce rules prohibiting moving between the train cars in order to combat this dangerous behavior," an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Although the MTA does not have data on the number of people who specifically ride on top of the trains, they do have statistics related to the number of people caught outside train cars, an MTA spokesperson told PIX11 News.

MTA figures show that the number of people caught outside train cars (including people on top, in-between or anywhere outside the train) was 490 in the year 2019, 199 in 2020, and 206 in 2021, according to ABC7NY.

The number of such incidents has quadrupled in a single year with 928 people being caught outside of trains in the year 2022. The trend of subway surfing also saw a massive spike among youngsters last year and remains popular on social media platforms like TikTok.

"This was really a terrible, tragic incident of this young man," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in light of Zachery's death. "Our team is going to do a host of things. To bring awareness, to speak with other young people, to really show how dangerous it is."

A 15-year-old boy was killed while subway surfing in New York City and became the second victim to suffer such a death in less than 3 months.